Meaning of positive in English

positive

adjective

/ˈpɒz.ə.tɪv/ us

/ˈpɑː.zə.t̬ɪv/

positive adjective (HOPEFUL)

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full of hope and confidence, or giving cause for hope and confidence:

a positive attitude

On a more positive note, we're seeing signs that the housing market is picking up.

The past ten years have seen some very positive developments in East-West relations.

There was a very positive response to our new design - people seemed very pleased with it.

Opposite

negative (WITHOUT HOPE)

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The most important thing is to go into the exam feeling positive.
It's a humbling experience to see people being so positive about life when they have so little.
He has a fairly positive outlook on life.
While claiming to promote positive images of women, advertisers are in fact doing the very opposite.
The UN called on all parties in the conflict to take a positive stance towards the new peace initiative.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Hoping and hopefulness

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positive adjective (CERTAIN)

certain and without any doubt:

[ + (that) ] Are you positive (that) you saw me switch the iron off?

"Are you sure it's okay for me to use your mother's car?" "Positive."

"It was him - I saw him take it." "Are you positive about that?"

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

certain about something

certainI feel certain that this change will be for the best.
know/say for certainI can't say for certain, but I think he's coming to the party.
sureDon't worry - I'm sure it won't be a problem.
positive"Are you sure you let the cat in?" "I'm positive."

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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Confidence & self-assurance

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positive adjective (TEST RESULT)

(of a test) showing that an illness, condition, drug, chemical, etc. is present:

a positive pregnancy test

She learned the next day that the test was positive, and her doctor prescribed antibiotics.

Opposite

negative (TEST RESULT)

(of a person or thing) having had a positive test result for something:

When the doctor told me I was positive, it was a total shock.

He's HIV positive.

She tested positive for hepatitis.

The urine sample was positive for codeine.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

General bodily disorders

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Disease & illness - general words

positive adjective (GRAMMAR)

language specialized

A positive sentence or phrase is not a negative sentence (= one that states that something is false) or a question:

"I have a plan" is a positive sentence.

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negative

language specialized

A positive adjective or adverb is not comparative (= expressing the idea of "more") or superlative (= expressing the idea of "most"):

Grammarians would say we are descending the descriptive scale for adjectives, from superlative to comparative to positive.

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Linguistics: grammatical terms

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positive adjective (COMPLETE)

[ before noun ]

(used to add force to an expression) complete:

Far from being a nuisance, she was a positive joy to have around.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Linguistics: very & extreme

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positive adjective (ABOVE ZERO)

(of a number or amount) more than zero:

Two is a positive number.

Opposite

negative (BELOW ZERO)

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Terms for numbers

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positive adjective (ELECTRICITY)

being the type of electrical charge that is carried by protons

Opposite

negative (ELECTRICITY)

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Electricity & electronics

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positive adjective (BLOOD TYPE)

having the rhesus factor in the blood:

My blood type is O positive.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

The circulatory system & blood

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positive adjective (PHOTOGRAPHY)

A positive image shows dark areas of what is being photographed as dark and light areas of what is being photographed as light:

He transfers the printed photograph to a large canvas backing using a computer able to read a positive image and reproduce it in polychrome.

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negative

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Photography

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Related word

positiveness

positive

noun [ C ]

/ˈpɒz.ə.tɪv/ us

/ˈpɑː.zə.t̬ɪv/

positive noun [C] (GOOD THING)

A positive in a situation is a good thing about it:

I sat down and wrote out the positives and negatives of having a baby.

They said employees should see the merger as a positive for the company.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Good and excellent things

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positive noun [C] (TEST RESULT)

a result of a scientific test that shows something exists or is present:

I thought a positive meant I'd have to get screened more often.

The doping scandal started with an unexpected rash of positives.

See also

false positive

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Marks & results

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positive noun [C] (PHOTOGRAPH)

a normal image in which dark areas of what is being photographed appear dark and light areas of what is being photographed appear light :

Using this online tool, it is possible to make a positive from the negative of a photo.

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negative

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Photography

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(Definition of positive from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

positive | American Dictionary

positive

adjective

/ˈpɑz·ə·t̬ɪv/

positive adjective (CERTAIN)

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without any doubt; certain:

I’m absolutely positive that he’s the man I saw.

positive adjective (HAPPY)

happy or hopeful, or giving cause for happiness or hope:

It’s important to have a positive attitude when you have a serious illness.

positive adjective (MEDICAL TEST)

[ not gradable ]

(of a medical test) showing that the disease or condition for which the person is being tested does exist:

Her TB test was positive.

positive adjective (COMPLETE)

[ not gradable ]

(used to add force to an expression) complete:

She was a positive joy to have around.

positive adjective (MORE THAN ZERO)

[ not gradable ] algebra

(of a number or amount) more than zero:

Two is a positive number.

positive adjective (ELECTRICITY)

[ not gradable ] physics

of the type of electrical charge that a proton has

(Definition of positive from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

positive | Business English

positive

adjective

/ˈpɒzətɪv/ us

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good or useful:

Net exports were making a strong positive contribution to western European economic growth.

a positive development/move In general, this is a positive development for consumers because it increases convenience and choice.

a positive aspect/effect/impact These measures should have positive effects on exports and employment.

a positive outcome/result Such methods do achieve positive results when certain key conditions are in place.

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negative adjective

expressing agreement or support:

positive feedback/a positive response The response to the marketing campaign has been extremely positive.

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negative adjective

relating to a number or an amount that is more than zero:

a positive balance The current account has also posted positive balances and this trend will continue.

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negative adjective

hopeful and confident about a situation:

a positive approach/assessment/attitude

remain positive about/on sth The company remains positive on the outlook for high-yield bonds this year.

On a more positive note, we're seeing signs that the housing market is picking up.

positive news for/on sth positive news on trading/for sterling

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negative adjective

used to describe strong action that is taken to achieve something:

Positive action has been taken to change the image of the company.

a positive step toward sth/doing sth Some Wall Street analysts described the management shakeup as a positive step toward restoring the company's credibility.

positively

adverb

react/respond positively to sth Financial markets reacted positively to the news.

positive

noun [ C or S ]

/ˈpɒzətɪv/ us

a good aspect, situation, etc.:

Higher short-term rates that slow inflation are a positive, not a negative, for bonds.

a lot of/a number of/many positives

As an employer you should emphasize the positive to your employees continually.

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negative

(Definition of positive from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of positive

positive

The positive part aims to show that adoption and practice are sufficient to create the fundamental plans of a legal system.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These were mentioned by 24 (75%) of the men who reported positive returns, but by only eight (38%) of those who did not.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

But here, we have quitted the positive history, to enter into the realm of representations, which requires a different approach.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

For many, trust was borne out of positive experience from past referrals.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It turns out that this difficulty considerably slows down both tasks, as compared to the scenario with positive knowledge radius.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The behaviorally oriented intervention produced significant reductions in coercive parenting and improvements in positive parenting.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A point should however be stressed: to get only positive shares, d must be smaller than 1, which is not always the case.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

To determine whether children actually produced ' happen ' more often in negative than positive contexts, the order of occurrence of surrounding utterances within episodes was examined.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

That is, there were more negative contexts surrounding ' happen ' than positive and neutral combined.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

As the time horizon is extended, 0 increases and becomes positive after 54 weeks, and the uncertainty surrounding 0 increases.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

On neither coast, however, do fisher training programs provide a positive and significant impact in terms of technical efficiency.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

There was a significant positive relationship between monthly rainfall, monthly minimum temperatures and flavonoid concentration, but no relationship was found with leaf age.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Its meta-analysis demonstrates that fluency can be taught and that it has a positive impact on reading comprehension abilities.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Ratings for positive, negative and depressive symptoms were available for 40 of the patients.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Positive coping and perceived social support did not protect against symptoms.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of positive

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of positive?

B1,B2,C2