negatively
negatively adverb: in a negative manner; so as to be damaging or not positive.
Adverb
negatively (comparative more negatively, superlative most negatively)
- In a negative manner; so as to be damaging or not positive.
- How justly then might human law and Philosophy rise up against the righteousnesse of Moses, if this be true which our vulgar Divinity Fathers upon him, yeah upon God himselfe; not silently and only negatively to permit, but in his law to divulge a written and generall priviledge to commit and...1644, John Milton, chapter 3, in The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, London, page 38
- At last one of them asked me what a Gentlewoman was? that puzzled me much; but however, I explained myself negatively; that it was one that did not go to Service to do Housework […]1722, Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, London: J. Cooke, 1765, p. 17
- In the negative; with the answer “no.”
- I answer negatively:1683, Richard Browne (translator), The Cure of Old Age and Preservation of Youth by Roger Bacon, London: Tho. Flesher, Doubt VII, p. 83
- Throttling his joy, Ahab negatively answered this unexpected question […]1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Chapter 128”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC
negatively meaning in Marathi and Urdu
negatively in Marathi
- negatively
- नकारार्थी nakārārthī
negatively in Urdu
- منفی طور پر, سلبی طور پر
Examples of negatively in a sentence
- Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively, by uniting our affections; the latter negatively, by restraining our vices.1776, Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 6th edition, Philadelphia, page 5:
- Allow me to introduce myself—first, negatively. ¶ No landlord is my friend and brother, no chambermaid loves me, no waiter worships me, no boots admires and envies me.1859, Charles Dickens, chapter 1, in The Uncommercial Traveller, London: Chapman & Hall, published 1905, page 1:
- Having the entire summer off from school negatively affects learning.1997 June 2, John E. Chubb, “Too much of a good thing”, in Time:
- Twelve States now in the affirmative column at one time or another in the past voted negatively.1935 April 8, “Season’s End”, in Time:
Antonyms of negatively
Forms of negatively
| comparative | more negatively |
|---|---|
| superlative | most negatively |
Origin of negatively
From negative + -ly.
Words formed from negatively
Questions about negatively
- What does negatively mean?
- Negatively means in a negative manner; so as to be damaging or not positive.
- What is negatively in Marathi?
- Negatively in Marathi is नकारार्थी (nakārārthī). See Negatively meaning in Marathi.
- How do you use negatively in a sentence?
- Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively, by uniting our affections; the latter negatively, by restraining our vices.
- What part of speech is negatively?
- Negatively is an adverb.
Words near negatively in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: negatively (page history and authors); नकारार्थी (Marathi) (page history and authors); negatively (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-negatively.ogg.
Cite this entry: “negatively.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/negatively. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.