6 meanings
(click/touch triangles for details)
1 —as in:
I'm absolutely positive!
Definition
certain (having no doubt; or used for emphasis)- I'm positive I've seen her before.
positive = certain
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- I'm positive our team will win on Friday.
- She positively glowed as she told me about the hot meals and the hot showers and all the friends she'd made.Jeannette Walls -- The Glass Castle
- You are positive that he took full advantage of you?Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird
- I looked positively plain.Kiera Cass -- The Selection
- But I began to put on weight, and I was positively chubby by the time I started the fifth grade.J.D. Vance -- Hillbilly Elegy
- But when she told them she wasn't exactly sure whether Luke had been born in May or June, that set the voices positively buzzing.Tara Westover -- Educated
- "I'm absolutely positive," he assured Gallien, "I won't run into anything I can't deal with on my own."Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild
- "You sure?" she asked.
"Positive."Kody Keplinger -- The DUFF: (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) - Our sources indicate that while Pickett has not been positively identified, authorities believe the body found in an offshoot of the Pogue's Run tunnel is indeed that of billionaire construction magnate Russell Davis Pickett, Sr.John Green -- Turtles All the Way Down
positive = certain
positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
positive = certain
positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
positive = certain
positive = certain (having no doubt)
positively = with certainty
2 —as in:
had a positive effect
Definition
good or beneficial- Lower interest rates positively affected home sales.
positively = in a good or beneficial manner
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- Lower gasoline prices have positively affected movie ticket sales.
- We don't have a solution yet, but our recent experiment was a positive step in the right direction.
- Wage growth had a positive impact on the stock market.
- I'm making a list of the positives and negatives of switching jobs
- The only positive news Goldie has to offer is her own.Heather Morris -- The Tattooist of Auschwitz
- The characters suffer in the beginning and the middle, but not the end. There's positive resolution.Stephanie Perkins -- Anna and the French Kiss
- Reams of social science attest to the positive effect of a loving and stable home.J.D. Vance -- Hillbilly Elegy
- A change in personal circumstances, even a positive one, can trigger anxiety.John Green -- Turtles All the Way Down
- "Personally I see nothing positive at all about Chris McCandless's lifestyle or wilderness doctrine," scolded another correspondent.Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild
positively = in a good way
positive = good or beneficial
positive = good or beneficial
positives = good things or characteristics
positive = good
positive = good or beneficial
positive = good or beneficial
positive = good or beneficial
positive = good or beneficial
3 —as in:
positive feedback from my boss
Definition
approval or agreement- Responses to my plan were positive.
positive = indicating agreement or approval
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- We're getting a lot of positive feedback about the proposed changes.
- I said, getting my second taste—and how sweet it was—of a positive review.Khaled Hosseini -- The Kite Runner
- Women have always had it hard in this country, Laila, but they're probably more free now, under the communists, and have more rights than they've ever had before, Babi said, always lowering his voice, aware of how intolerant Mammy was of even remotely positive talk of the communists.Khaled Hosseini -- A Thousand Splendid Suns
- He had never knowingly given her pain, but he now felt that she required more positive kindness; and with that view endeavoured, in the first place, to lessen her fears of them all, and gave her especially a great deal of good advice as to playing with Maria and Julia, and being as merry as possible.Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park
- To ensure that his message got through, he decided to speak positively about his captors.Laura Hillenbrand -- Unbroken
- I always tried to be positive with her, although I'd learned that even compliments were a kind of insult to Lou Ann, causing her to wrinkle her face and advise me to make an appointment with an eye doctor.Barbara Kingsolver -- The Bean Trees
- She must have had some sort of positive emotion about him though.Margaret Atwood -- Oryx and Crake
- It would be a generous one, more generous than his length of service warranted, because, let's be frank, his friends at AnooYoo wanted Jimmy to remember them in a positive manner, in his terrific new position.Margaret Atwood -- Oryx and Crake
positive = indicating approval or agreement
positive = indicating approval
positive = indicating approval or agreement
positive = indicating approval
positively = in an approving manner (saying good things)
positive = indicating approval or agreement
4 —as in:
a positive attitude
Definition
optimistic (expecting or focusing good things); or agreeable- With a positive attitude and some effort, I'm sure we can make this work.
positive = optimistic
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- I appreciation your positive attitude.
- I watched Dr. Wolff use semantics to phrase whatever he could in a positive light. When we asked, "How long before I die?" he answered, "You probably have three to six months of good health."Randy Pausch -- The Last Lecture
- It also went to show the value of statesmanship and diplomacy as well as positive thinking and plain old hard-headed business sense.Margaret Atwood -- The Blind Assassin
- I needed to turn this around, make it positive.Kiera Cass -- The Selection
- Cheer up! Look on the bright side! You've got to think positive!Margaret Atwood -- Oryx and Crake
- But the positive thoughts would give way to negative thoughts, and the negative thoughts seemed to swoop into her mind the way a big flock of black crows takes over the landscape, sitting thick in the trees and on the fence rails and lawns, staring at you in ominous silence.Jeannette Walls -- The Glass Castle
- I try to stay positive about it, but it's hard seeing the interactions and relationships the other students have at school that I'm not a part of.Colleen Hoover -- Hopeless
- But it was also an extremely positive letter, full of hope and encouraging all of us to do some small part for others.Chris Kyle -- American Sniper
- He's just this phenomenal ball of positive energy; completely physical and gregarious.Randy Pausch -- The Last Lecture
positive = optimistic or agreeable
positive = optimistic (focusing on good things)
positive = optimistic
positive = optimistic (focusing on good things)
positive = optimistically
positive = optimistic (focusing on good things)
positive = optimistic (or feeling good)
positive = optimistic
positive = optimistic (focusing on good things)
5 —as in:
The test came back positive.
Definition
found a condition or substance to be present- The pregnancy test was positive.
positive = it found the condition present
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- The test for bacterial infection came back positive.
- We tested for lead in the drinking water. The results came back positive.
- I took a pregnancy test today. It was positive.Jodi Picoult -- Nineteen Minutes
- You're positive for strep and mono.Tara Westover -- Educated
- Out of the eighteen, one was positive for melanoma.Nicholas Sparks -- Dear John
- After three positive pregnancy tests, after her period was three weeks late-she was miscarrying.Jodi Picoult -- Nineteen Minutes
- Many of their cell lines tested positive, including the skin cells George Hyatt had transplanted onto a soldier's arm years earlier.Rebecca Skloot -- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
- Within weeks of Henrietta's death, Sonny, Deborah, and baby Joe—all between one and four years old—tested positive for TB.Rebecca Skloot -- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
- One month prior to current visit, patient tested positive for gonorrhea.Rebecca Skloot -- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
positive = it found the condition present
positive = it found a substance to be present
positive = indicating that a condition was found
positive = indicating that the results of a test showed that a condition was found
positive = indicating that the results of a test showed that a condition was found
positive = indicating that a condition was found
positive = indicating that a condition was found
positive = indicating that a condition was found
positive = indicating that a condition was found
6 —as in:
a positive number
Definition
greater than zero (of a number)- The company has a positive cash flow.
positive = greater than zero (in this case, cash in minus cash out is greater than zero)
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- We expect to achieve a positive cash flow next year.
- It is a positive number.
- So I limited the reactor enough that we weren't getting positive heat.Andy Weir -- The Martian
- And then, slowly, she watched the second, perpendicular line appear: a plus sign, a positive, a cross to bear.Jodi Picoult -- Nineteen Minutes
positive = greater than zero (in this case, cash in minus cash out is expected to be greater than zero)
positive = greater than zero
positive = greater than zero
positive = greater than zero
Less commonly:
See a comprehensive dictionary for less common meanings of positive including some in the fields of electricity, physics, chemistry, medicine, philosophy, and grammar. Note that most all senses of positive indicate that something is good or present.