All 50 Uses of
positive
in
Crime and Punishment, by Dostoyevsky
- He was positively going now for a "rehearsal" of his project, and at every step his excitement grew more and more violent.†
Chpt 1.1positively = with certainty
- The recollection of his recent success in getting the situation seemed to revive him, and was positively reflected in a sort of radiance on his face.
Chpt 1.2positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
- It would have been difficult to sink to a lower ebb of disorder, but to Raskolnikov in his present state of mind this was positively agreeable.
Chpt 1.3
- Nastasya felt positively offended and began wrathfully rousing him.
Chpt 1.6
- He positively smiled at himself, when suddenly another terrifying idea occurred to his mind.
Chpt 1.7
- The small lady positively skipped from her seat on seeing him, and fell to curtsying in a sort of ecstasy; but the officer took not the smallest notice of her, and she did not venture to sit down again in his presence.†
Chpt 2.1positively = with certainty
- Raskolnikov had unwarily fixed a very long and direct look on him, so that he felt positively affronted.
Chpt 2.1positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
- As for the smart lady, at first she positively trembled before the storm.
Chpt 2.1positively = with certainty; or absolutely (used for emphasis)
- Raskolnikov declared positively and irritably.†
Chpt 2.4positively = with certainty
- "One of her customers must have killed her," Zossimov declared positively.†
Chpt 2.5
- Have you the papers?" he asked, going into a very spacious and positively clean restaurant, consisting of several rooms, which were, however, rather empty.†
Chpt 2.6
- This is how I should behave," Raskolnikov began, again bringing his face close to Zametov's, again staring at him and speaking in a whisper, so that the latter positively shuddered.†
Chpt 2.6
- Avdotya Romanovna looked with interest at Razumihin; her black eyes flashed; Razumihin positively started at her glance.†
Chpt 3.1
- At the same time he recognised clearly that the dream which had fired his imagination was hopelessly unattainable—so unattainable that he felt positively ashamed of it, and he hastened to pass to the other more practical cares and difficulties bequeathed him by that "thrice accursed yesterday."
Chpt 3.2positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
- They say, too, the girl was not at all pretty, in fact I am told positively ugly...and such an invalid...and queer.†
Chpt 3.2positively = with certainty
- Razumihin bowed, positively radiant.†
Chpt 3.4
- However his health seemed unimpaired so far, and looking at his noble, clear-skinned countenance which had grown fattish of late, Pyotr Petrovitch for an instant was positively comforted in the conviction that he would find another bride and, perhaps, even a better one.
Chpt 5.1positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
- Well, you may beat me if you like, but I am glad, positively glad it hasn't come off, that you are free, that you are not quite lost for humanity....you see, I've spoken my mind!†
Chpt 5.1positively = with certainty
- So that indeed it's not humiliating…. and if I ever, to suppose an absurdity, were to be legally married, I should be positively glad of it.
Chpt 5.1positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
- She positively pounced upon him, and made him sit on her left hand (Amalia Ivanovna was on her right).
Chpt 5.2 *positively = with certainty; or absolutely (used for emphasis)
- She had heard from Amalia Ivanovna that the mother was positively offended at the invitation and had asked the question: "How could she let her daughter sit down beside that young person?"
Chpt 5.2positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
- You will admit that recollecting your embarrassment, your eagerness to get away and the fact that you kept your hands for some time on the table, and taking into consideration your social position and the habits associated with it, I was, so to say, with horror and positively against my will, compelled to entertain a suspicion—a cruel, but justifiable suspicion!†
Chpt 5.3positively = with certainty
- Walking outside the city gates one day, he positively fancied that they had fixed a meeting there, that he was waiting for Svidrigailov.
Chpt 6.1positively = with certainty; or absolutely (used for emphasis)
- One day at dusk he sat for an hour listening to songs in a tavern and he remembered that he positively enjoyed it.
Chpt 6.1positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
- They are pernicious, positively pernicious, and yet I can't give them up!†
Chpt 6.2positively = with certainty
- He positively laughed looking at me; he sounded me: 'Tobacco's bad for you,' he said, 'your lungs are affected.'
Chpt 6.2positively = with certainty; or absolutely (used for emphasis)
- That's not simply ridiculous, it's positively shameless.
Chpt 6.2positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
- Raskolnikov positively started.†
Chpt 6.2positively = with certainty
- If only I'd been something, a landowner, a father, a cavalry officer, a photographer, a journalist...I am nothing, no specialty, and sometimes I am positively bored.†
Chpt 6.3
- These were times when she was positively proud of me.
Chpt 6.4positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
- Would you believe it too that Marfa Petrovna was positively angry with me at first for my persistent silence about your sister, for my careless reception of her continual adoring praises of Avdotya Romanovna.
Chpt 6.4
- Sometimes she steals a look at me that positively scorches me.†
Chpt 6.4positively = with certainty
- "From all your half tipsy stories," Raskolnikov observed harshly, "I am positive that you have not given up your designs on my sister, but are pursuing them more actively than ever."
Chpt 6.5positive = certain
- He was positively composed, at least in appearance, but his face was pale as before.†
Chpt 6.5positively = with certainty
- And the hopeless misery and anxiety of all that time, especially of the last hours, had weighed so heavily upon him that he positively clutched at the chance of this new unmixed, complete sensation.
Chpt 6.8positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
- But that in the end these visits had become a habit and almost a necessity for him, so that he was positively distressed when she was ill for some days and could not visit him.†
Chpt Epil.positively = with certainty
- But no one shared his enjoyment: his silent companion looked with positive hostility and mistrust at all these manifestations.†
Chpt 1.1
- You know, for instance, beforehand with positive certainty that this man, this most reputable and exemplary citizen, will on no consideration give you money; and indeed I ask you why should he?†
Chpt 1.2
- This does not hurt me, but is a positive con-so-la-tion, ho-nou-red sir," he called out, shaken to and fro by his hair and even once striking the ground with his forehead.†
Chpt 1.2
- The beating of his heart was a positive pain.†
Chpt 2.1
- But he soon saw what it meant, and at once began to find positive amusement in the scandal.†
Chpt 2.1
- Raskolnikov cried, with positive anger.†
Chpt 4.1
- There's no denying that Raskolnikov had compromised himself seriously, but no facts had come to light as yet; there was nothing positive.†
Chpt 4.6
- Could it have concealed anything like a fact, a piece of positive evidence?†
Chpt 4.6
- So Porfiry, too, had nothing but that delirium, no facts but this psychology which cuts both ways, nothing positive.†
Chpt 4.6
- Amalia Ivanovna herself had been invited with great ceremony in spite of the recent unpleasantness, and so she was very busy with preparations and was taking a positive pleasure in them; she was moreover dressed up to the nines, all in new black silk, and she was proud of it.†
Chpt 5.1
- I will add further and repeat that in spite of my positive conviction, I realise that I run a certain risk in making this accusation, but as you see, I could not let it pass.†
Chpt 5.3
- Pyotr Petrovitch gave a positive start—all noticed it and recalled it afterwards.†
Chpt 5.3
- But on my way I went first to Madame Kobilatnikov's to take them the 'General Treatise on the Positive Method' and especially to recommend Piderit's article (and also Wagner's); then I come on here and what a state of things I find!†
Chpt 5.3
Uses with a meaning too rare to warrant foucs:
- Are you so positive I poisoned Marfa Petrovna?†
Chpt 6.5 *
Definitions:
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(1)
(positive as in: I'm absolutely positive!) certain (having no doubt; or used for emphasis)
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(2)
(positive as in: had a positive effect) good or beneficial
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(3)
(positive as in: positive feedback from my boss) approval or agreement
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(4)
(positive as in: a positive attitude) optimistic (expecting or focusing good things); or agreeable
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(5)
(positive as in: The test came back positive.) found a condition or substance to be present
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(6)
(positive as in: a positive number) greater than zero (of a number)
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(7)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) 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.