Standard Lemma guide

negativism

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • CMU ARPABET: N EH1 G AH0 T IH0 V IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A persistent pessimistic or skeptical attitude.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A stubborn tendency to do the opposite of what one is asked.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

characterized by habitual skepticism and a disagreeable tendency to deny or oppose or resist suggestions or commands

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: negativity, negativeness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: quality

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English negative Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English negativism From negative + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

8 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: негативизъм (negativizǎm) — A persistent pessimistic or skeptical attitude
  • Catalan: negativisme — A persistent pessimistic or skeptical attitude
  • French: négativisme — A persistent pessimistic or skeptical attitude
  • Galician: negativismo — A persistent pessimistic or skeptical attitude
  • Italian: negativismo — A persistent pessimistic or skeptical attitude
  • Portuguese: negativismo — A persistent pessimistic or skeptical attitude
  • Slovak: negativizmus — A persistent pessimistic or skeptical attitude
  • Spanish: negativismo — A persistent pessimistic or skeptical attitude