Word.ws English Dictionary

positive

Syllables: pos·it·ive/ˈpɑzɪtɪv/

positive adjective: included, present, characterized by affirmation.

Adjective

positive (comparative more positive, superlative most positive)

  1. Included, present, characterized by affirmation.
  2. Formally laid down.
    • In laws, that which is natural bindeth universally; that which is positive, not so.1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie
  3. Stated definitively and without qualification.
    • Positive words, that he would not bear arms against King Edward’s son.1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret...
  4. Fully assured in opinion.
    • I’m absolutely positive you've spelt that wrong.
    Synonyms:
    certain, sure, wis
    Antonyms:
    uncertain, unsure
  5. Greater than zero.
  6. (sometimes) Greater than or equal to zero.
    • Notice that each time the calculator balance becomes positive (zero or greater), the dollar item that forces this balance to become positive is selected for examination. Since each of these dollar items is contained […]1987, Roger H. Hermanson, Robert H. Strawser, Auditing Theory and Practice^(https://books.google.com/books?id=Vh7yAAAAMAAJ&q=%22positive+(zero+or+greater%22&dq=%22positive+(zero+or+greater%22&hl=en&ne...
    • a step 10 which judges whether each of the m amounts of differences in amount of voltage changes ΔHv1 to ΔHvm are positive (zero or greater than zero) or negative (less than zero): and […]1996 December 10, United States Patent and Trademark Office, “5,583,871: Method for high-speed charging of secondary batteries and apparatus therefor. Stewart N. Simmonds, Port Coquitlam, Canada, and...
    Synonyms:
    nonnegative
  7. Characterized by constructiveness or influence for the better.
    • Not to conſent to the Enacting of ſuch a Law, which has no view beſide to general Good, unleſs another Law ſhall at the ſame time paſs, with no other view but that of advancing the Power of one Party alone; What is this but to claim a positive Voice as well as a negative?1701, [Jonathan Swift], “Chapter I”, in A Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions between the Nobles and the Commons in Athens and Rome, with the Consequences They Had upon Both Those States...
  8. Overconfident, dogmatic.
    • Some positive, persisting fops we know, That, if once wrong, will needs be always so.1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC
  9. Actual, real, concrete, not theoretical or speculative.
    • [I]f the privation be good, it followes not the former condition was evill, but lesse good; for the flower or blossome, is a positive good, although the remove of it to give place to the fruit, be a comparative good.1597, Francis [Bacon], “Of the Colours of Good and Evill, a Fragment”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland […], published 1632, →OCLC
    • Chemistry is not a primitive science, like geometry or astronomy; it is constructed from the debris of a previous scientific formation; a formation half chimerical and half positive...1885, Marcellin Berthelot, Les Origines de l'Alkimie as quoted in M. M. Pattison Muir, A History of Chemical Theories and Laws, 1907.
  10. Having more protons than electrons.
    • A cation is a positive ion as it has more protons than electrons.
    Antonyms:
    negative
  11. Describing the primary sense of an adjective, adverb or noun; not comparative, superlative, augmentative nor diminutive.
    • ‘Better’ is an irregular comparative of the positive form ‘good’.
  12. Describing a verb that is not negated, especially in languages which have distinct positive and negative verb forms, e.g., Finnish.
Show 12 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. Derived from an object by itself; not dependent on changing circumstances or relations.
    • The idea of beauty is not positive, but depends on the different tastes of individuals.
    • positive knowledge
    Synonyms:
    absolute
  2. Characterized by the existence or presence of distinguishing qualities or features, rather than by their absence.
    • The box was not empty – I felt some positive substance within it.
    • In other cases of moral alienation there will be found to have been more or less congenital moral defect, with maniacal exacerbations of positive moral insanity occurring perhaps at puberty, perhaps at the menstrual periods, perhaps after severe disappointment.1867, Henry Maudsley, The Physiology and Pathology of the Mind, New York: D. Appleton & Company, page 318
  3. Characterized by the presence of features which support a hypothesis.
    • The results of our experiment are positive.
  4. Confirmed, straight-up.
    • Ben […], who seems at first to be a likable guy but is actually a positive sexist.1986 April 19, Shelley Mains, “TV Shows Dykes as Yuppie "Gay Women"”, in Gay Community News, page 6
  5. Of a visual image, true to the original in light, shade and colour values.
    • A positive photograph can be developed from a photographic negative.
  6. Favorable, desirable by those interested or invested in that which is being judged.
    • The first-night reviews were largely positive.
  7. Wholly what is expressed; colloquially downright, entire, outright.
    • Good lord, you've built up a positive arsenal of weaponry here.
  8. Optimistic.
    • He has a positive outlook on life.
  9. electropositive
  10. basic; metallic; not acid; opposed to negative, and said of metals, bases, and basic radicals.
  11. (slang) HIV positive.
    • We certainly told him at that time that I was negative. We talked about transmission. We told him we don't do anything that would cause me to become positive.quoted in 2013, William I. Johnston, HIV-Negative: How the Uninfected Are Affected by AIDS (page 145)
  12. (New-Age, jargon) Good, desirable, healthful, pleasant, enjoyable.
    • positive energy; positive thoughts, feelings or emotions
    • Negative feelings can be worked through and their energy converted into positive energy... In crisis, normal patterns of self-organization fail, resulting in anxiety (negative energy). Being open systems, people can exchange this energy with the environment and create positive energy for taking...2009, Christopher Johns, Becoming a Reflective Practitioner, John Wiley & Sons, page 15

Noun

positive (plural positives)

  1. A thing capable of being affirmed; something real or actual.
    • rating Positives by their Privatives1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London
  2. A favourable point or characteristic.
    • Not a bad situation when we weigh all the positives.
  3. Something having a positive value in physics, such as an electric charge.
  4. A degree of comparison of adjectives and adverbs.
  5. An adjective or adverb in the positive degree.
  6. A positive image; one that displays true colors and shades, not their opposites or complements.
    Antonyms:
    negative
  7. The positive plate of a voltaic or electrolytic cell.
  8. A positive result of a test.

positive meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

positive in Hindi

characterised by constructiveness
आशावादी āśāvādī
physics: having more protons than electrons
धन dhan
optimistic
सकारात्मक sakārātmak

positive in Tamil

ஐயமில்லாத, நிறை, பொதிவு, நிலையான, நேர்மறை, நேர்ப்பொதிவு

positive in Marathi

mathematics: greater than zero
धन dhana
physics: having more protons than electrons
धन dhana
optimistic
सकारात्मक sakārātmak

positive in Urdu

positive
شبھ śubh
More languagesFewer languages
positive in Bengali
ধনাত্মক, নিশ্চিত, পরা, যথার্থ
positive in Malayalam
ശുഭാപ്തി, ശുഭകരമായ, അനുകൂലമായ, അനുലോമകരമായ
positive in Kannada
ಕಂಡಿತ, ನಂಬಿಕೆಯ, ಒಪ್ಪುವ, ಬೆಂಬಲಿಸುವ
positive in Punjabi
ਧਨਾਤਮਿਕ dhanātmik
positive in Tagalog
tahas
positive in Arabic
مُوجَب mūjab, إِيجَابِيّ ʔījābiyy, صُورَة مُوجَبَة ṣūra mūjaba
positive in Thai
บวก bùuak
positive in Vietnamese
luật thực định, luật chế định, luật thực chứng, dương

Examples of positive in a sentence

  • The word "happy" has a positive connotation, while "sad" has a negative connotation.
  • He applied a gram positive stain, looking for rods indicative of Listeria.
  • Try to put a positive spin on the disappointing sales figures.

All 40 example sentences with positive

Synonyms of positive

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

10 more antonymsFewer antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of positive

Forms of positive

Adjective
comparativemore positive
superlativemost positive
alternative form+ve
Noun
pluralpositives

Plural of positive: positives

Origin of positive

From Old French positif, from Latin positivus, from the past participle stem of ponere (“to place”). Compare posit.

Words formed from positive

Phrases with positive

44 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about positive

What does positive mean?
Positive means included, present, characterized by affirmation.
What is positive in Hindi?
Positive in Hindi is आशावादी (āśāvādī), धन (dhan), सकारात्मक (sakārātmak). See Positive meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is positive?
Positive can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce positive?
Positive is pronounced /ˈpɑzɪtɪv/ (US).

Words near positive in the dictionary

  1. positionless
  2. positionlessness
  3. positions
  4. positiv organ
  5. positiv organs
  6. positive
  7. positive action
  8. positive airway pressure
  9. positive airway pressures
  10. positive assortative mating
  11. positive assortative matings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: positive (page history and authors); positive (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); شبھ (Urdu) (page history and authors); positive (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); positive (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); positive (Kannada 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-positive.ogg.

Cite this entry: “positive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/positive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.