Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun pejorative, rhetoric A phrase in which there are two
negative words or their compounds (e.g. no, not, never, none, etc), occasionally leading toambiguity in the meaning, but necessary in some foreign languages.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an affirmative constructed from two negatives
- noun a grammatically substandard but emphatic negative
Etymologies
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Examples
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uselessness commented on the word double negative
Don't use no double negatives.
January 25, 2007
seanahan commented on the word double negative
I can't get no satisfaction.
January 26, 2007
Telofy commented on the word double negative
From Pushing Daisies episode “Window Dressed to Kill” (Pie names given in italics):
Olive: I’m sorry you never looked at me the same way you look at Chuck.
Ned: I wouldn’t say never.
(Days later:)
Narrator: Confused not by the particulars but by this particular usage Olive read about sentence structure and the use of the double negative. And with passive-aggressive panache, broached the subject with the Pie-Maker.
Ned: Try this one again.
Olive (tasting Pearway to Heaven): I definitely don’t hate it.
Ned: What does that mean?
Olive: Just what I said.
Ned: Means you like it?
Olive: Υou tell me.
Ned: You said it wasn’t less tasty than Kick in the Kumquat, but more unfulfilling than Rock Me Amade-Quince. (Pause.) I don’t like giving funny names to the pies. Does it not seem disrespectful?
Olive: Τhere you go. Υou did it again.
Later in that episode:
Randy: People who have super-powers don’t not wanna use them.
(Cf. negative concord)
December 31, 2009
PossibleUnderscore commented on the word double negative
Haha! I like that one!
December 31, 2009