unpositive
English
Etymology
Adjective
unpositive (comparative more unpositive, superlative most unpositive)
- Not positive; negative.
- 1956, United States. Congress. House, Hearings, volume 6, page 2702:
- […] no nation is going to dare provoke an atomic war with us unless it is convinced that the first shock will do away with our power, to use a rather unpositive word, to retaliate.
- Not positive; unsure.
- 1977, Jan Ate van Ek, L. G. Alexander, The Threshold Level for Modern Language Learning in Schools (page 159)
- The following three statements will provide an elementary example of what is meant by range: He's 24 years old (positive). He may be about 24 years old (tentative). I'm not sure how old he is (unpositive/uncertain) […]
- 1977, Jan Ate van Ek, L. G. Alexander, The Threshold Level for Modern Language Learning in Schools (page 159)