8 uses
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1 —4 uses as in:
I'm absolutely positive!
Definition
certain (having no doubt; or used for emphasis)
- I know all about it, and I can tell you positively that Helene is as innocent before you as Christ was before the Jews.Book Five — 1806-07 (23% in)
positively = with certainty; or absolutely (used for emphasis)
- You positively must!Book Eight — 1811-12 (55% in)
- Rostopchin was so pleased with the fine role of leader of popular feeling, and had grown so used to it, that the necessity of relinquishing that role and abandoning Moscow without any heroic display took him unawares and he suddenly felt the ground slip away from under his feet, so that he positively did not know what to do.Book Eleven — 1812 (58% in)
- There were then as now conversations and discussions about women's rights, the relations of husband and wife and their freedom and rights, though these themes were not yet termed questions as they are now; but these topics were not merely uninteresting to Natasha, she positively did not understand them.Book Fifteen — 1812-13 (56% in)
positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
positively = absolutely (used for emphasis)
There are no more uses of "positive" flagged with this meaning in War and Peace.
Typical Usage
(best examples)
? —4 uses
exact meaning not specified
- Arriving at this conclusion we can reply directly and positively to these two essential questions of history: (1) What is power?Book Fifteen — 1812-13 (89% in)
- I don't wish to marry," she answered positively, glancing at Prince Vasili and at her father with her beautiful eyes.Book Three — 1805 (33% in)
- I don't speak of his capacity as a general, but at a time like this how they appoint a decrepit, blind old man, positively blind?Book Ten — 1812 (19% in)
- Prince Andrew had thought and said that happiness could only be negative, but had said it with a shade of bitterness and irony as though he was really saying that all desire for positive happiness is implanted in us merely to torment us and never be satisfied.Book Thirteen — 1812 (60% in)
There are no more uses of "positive" in War and Peace.
Typical Usage
(best examples)