Negatively

How to spell negatively

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce negatively

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does negatively mean?

1. adverbIn a way that is harmful, unfavourable, or expressing denial or pessimism.

Negatively in a sentence

• The sudden price rise affected sales negatively for the rest of the quarter.

• Most of the panel responded negatively to the revised proposal.

Where does negatively come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb negare, meaning 'to say no' or 'to deny', which itself grew from the little particle nec, an emphatic 'not'. From negare came the past participle stem negat-, which produced the late Latin adjective negativus, describing something that denies or refuses. English took in the adjective 'negative' through Old French in the late 1300s, at first in the strict sense of a denial or a statement of 'no', and later in the broader senses of harmful, pessimistic, or below zero. The adverb 'negatively' is the home-grown English step: the established adjective simply gained the everyday -ly ending. The same negare root still surfaces in 'deny', 'renegade', and 'abnegate', so the central spelling clue is that the word begins with the steady 'neg-' of negation, not 'nag-'.

How the word is built

• neg- (from Latin negare: to deny)
• -ative (forming an adjective)
• -ly (adverb suffix)