Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To make ineffective or invalid; nullify.
  • transitive verb To make negative.
  • transitive verb Computers To perform the machine logic operation NOT gate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To deny; negative; make negative or null.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To deny the existence, evidence, or truth of; to contradict.
  • verb To nullify or cause to be ineffective.
  • verb To be negative; bring or cause negative results.
  • verb computing To perform the NOT operation on.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb deny the truth of
  • verb be in contradiction with
  • verb prove negative; show to be false
  • verb make ineffective by counterbalancing the effect of

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin negāre, negāt-, to deny; see ne in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin negatus, past participle of negare ("to deny, refuse, decline"), reduced from *nec-aiare (or a similar form), from nec ("not, nor") + aiere ("to say").

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Examples

  • Similarly, arithmetic negate is 0-A with carry set (borrow reset).

    Babbage-Boole Digital Arithmetical and Logical Mill: Part 1 « The Half-Baked Maker 2009

  • #3 The absolute undisputable unmoveable authority of the second amendment - which if any "law" attempts to negate is to be disregarded as illegal.

    Infowars 2009

  • These next 2 installments kind of negate the whole point of the first film.

    Max Allan Collins to Write and Direct Two “Road to Perdition” Sequels | /Film 2008

  • That would kind of negate the whole idea of top secret.

    Wanted by the FBI: Employees « Musings from an overworked translator 2009

  • About the kimchi recipe: because of global warming this is what the clerk at Whole Food said, honestly! causing some drought in California, there's a real lack of organic nappa cabbage n.b. cabbage is notoriously pesticidey--it would kind of negate the health benefits of kimchi to use non-organic, I think.

    Thinking 'bout....thyroid....goiter....food GreenFertility 2006

  • About the kimchi recipe: because of global warming this is what the clerk at Whole Food said, honestly! causing some drought in California, there's a real lack of organic nappa cabbage n.b. cabbage is notoriously pesticidey--it would kind of negate the health benefits of kimchi to use non-organic, I think.

    Archive 2006-06-01 GreenFertility 2006

  • I mean, we still protected -- Barry's exactly right -- we still protected those who are going to look for some way to kind of negate the effect of the payroll tax, which is our main concern, that those folks are penalized by not being able to take that credit because they do, in fact, pay taxes -- unlike those on the Hill who talk about how they're trying to claim welfare or something.

    Press Briefing By Mike Mccurry ITY National Archives 1997

  • I will make it even simpler; they don't need carriers - since they can "negate" ours easily.

    AMERICAN DIGEST Vanderleun 2010

  • I will make it even simpler; they don't need carriers - since they can "negate" ours easily.

    AMERICAN DIGEST Vanderleun 2010

  • I will make it even simpler; they don't need carriers - since they can "negate" ours easily.

    AMERICAN DIGEST Vanderleun 2010

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