positive: meaning and definitions

Characterized by or displaying certainty, acceptance, or affirmation: a positive answer; positive criticism.

Measured or moving forward or in a direction of increase or progress.

Explicitly or openly expressed or laid down: a positive demand.

Admitting of no doubt; irrefutable: positive proof.

Very sure; confident: I'm positive he's right. See Synonyms at sure.

Overconfident; dogmatic.

Formally or arbitrarily determined; prescribed.

Concerned with practical rather than theoretical matters.

Composed of or characterized by the presence of particular qualities or attributes; real.

Philosophy Of or relating to positivism.

Philosophy Of or relating to laws imposed by human authority rather than by nature or reason alone: "the glaring discrepancy between American positive law and natural rights” ( David Brion Davis).

Philosophy Of or relating to religion based on revelation rather than on nature or reason alone.

Informal Utter; absolute: a positive darling.

Mathematics Relating to or designating a quantity greater than zero.

Mathematics Relating to or designating the sign (+).

Mathematics Relating to or designating a quantity, number, angle, or direction opposite to another designated as negative.

Physics Relating to or designating an electric charge of a sign opposite to that of an electron.

Medicine Indicating the presence of a particular disease, condition, or organism: a positive test for pregnancy.

Biology Indicating or characterized by response or motion toward the source of a stimulus, such as light: positive tropism.

Having the areas of light and dark in their original and normal relationship, as in a photographic print made from a negative.

Grammar Of, relating to, or being the simple uncompared degree of an adjective or adverb, as opposed to either the comparative or superlative.

Driven by or generating power directly through intermediate machine parts having little or no play: positive drive.

An affirmative element or characteristic.

Mathematics A quantity greater than zero.

Physics A positive electric charge.