Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use positive in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun

Positive means included, present, characterized by affirmation. Example: “I’m absolutely positive you've spelt that wrong.”

Examples of positive by meaning

adjectiveFully assured in opinion.

  • I’m absolutely positive you've spelt that wrong.

adjectiveGreater 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.1987, Roger H. Hermanson, Robert H. Strawser, Auditing Theory and Practice^(https://books.google.com/books?id=Vh7yAAAAMAAJ&q=%22positive+(ze...

adjectiveHaving more protons than electrons.

  • A cation is a positive ion as it has more protons than electrons.

adjectiveDescribing 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’.

adjectiveDerived 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.

adjectiveCharacterized 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.

adjectiveCharacterized by the presence of features which support a hypothesis.

  • The results of our experiment are positive.

adjectiveOf a visual image, true to the original in light, shade and colour values.

  • A positive photograph can be developed from a photographic negative.

More sentences with positive

  • The word "happy" has a positive connotation, while "sad" has a negative connotation.From the entry connotation
  • He applied a gram positive stain, looking for rods indicative of Listeria.From the entry rod
  • Try to put a positive spin on the disappointing sales figures.From the entry spin
  • The sum of expenditures and taxes minus total income is a loss, when this difference is positive.From the entry loss
  • That this is a positive one makes it no less a stereotype, and therefore unacceptable.From the entry less
  • Corrective lenses compensate for the excessive positive diopters of the myopic eye.From the entry myopic
  • We need to try to extract the positives from the defeat.From the entry extract
  • The exponential function maps the set of real numbers onto the set of positive real numbers.From the entry onto
  • The counselor was able to reach the disturbed teen through positive psychological manipulation.From the entry manipulation
  • The positive divisors of 6 are 1, 2, 3 and 6.From the entry divisor
  • Even though he had bad news, he tried to wind up his speech on a positive note.From the entry wind up
  • To find the first digit in a positive number, stringify it and take the first character.From the entry stringify
  • The set of positive integers is well-ordered by the relation ≤.From the entry well-order
  • The mother did not realize that giving her son candy every time he cried was positive reinforcement.From the entry positive reinforcement
  • Outbreeding is a positive thing, because of the wider gene pool.From the entry outbreeding
  • The degrees of comparison of good are good (positive), better (comparative) and best (superlative).From the entry degree of comparison
  • If a gambler repeatedly plays a game with positive expectation, his payoff over time is a submartingale.From the entry submartingale
  • Jorge Bonifacio was hit with an 80-game suspension for testing positive for a horse steroid.From the entry horse steroid
  • The perseverance of the saints is positive willedness, not mere passive willingness.From the entry willedness
  • No matter how many failed attempts we made, we maintained a positive attitude and tried again and again until we succeeded.From the entry attempt
  • When not otherwise noted, "zero" will mean "positive zero" here.From the entry positive zero
  • I understand that salespeople try to explain things in a positive way, but that was a barefaced lie.From the entry barefaced lie
  • Delia's coach encouraged her to focus on the positives.From the entry encourage
  • If you consider all the negative and all the positive factors, it should balance out to something acceptable.From the entry balance out
  • Free cash flow can be very negative for profitable, fast-growing businesses and very positive for unprofitable, declining ones.From the entry free cash flow
  • Critical reception for many Adele songs has been very positive.From the entry critical reception
  • Because the Chernobyl reactor had a large positive void coefficient, the reaction accelerated rapidly once the coolant water started to boil.From the entry void coefficient
  • Daily positive affirmations can improve self-confidence.From the entry affirmation
  • His tox screen came back positive.From the entry tox
  • A false positive from a cancer screening test will unnecessarily frighten a healthy person; a false negative will deprive them of timely treatment.From the entry false positive
  • While a false positive from a cancer screening test will unnecessarily frighten a healthy person, a false negative will deprive them of timely treatment.From the entry false negative
  • The movie was bad, but it wasn't all bad, as it had the redeeming quality of spreading a positive message to choose peace and love.From the entry redeeming quality

Meaning of positive

  1. adjective Included, present, characterized by affirmation.
  2. adjective Formally laid down.
  3. adjective Stated definitively and without qualification.

Full definition of positive

Questions about positive in a sentence

How do you use positive in a sentence?
Positive is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “I’m absolutely positive you've spelt that wrong.”
What is a short sentence with positive?
“Daily positive affirmations can improve self-confidence.”
What does positive mean?
Positive means included, present, characterized by affirmation.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: positive (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use positive in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/positive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.