affirmative

[uh-fur-muh-tiv]

adjective

1. affirming or assenting; asserting the truth, validity, or fact of something.

2. expressing agreement or consent; assenting.

   an affirmative reply.

3. positive; not negative.

4. Logic.,  noting a proposition in which a property of a subject is affirmed, as “All men are happy.”

noun

1. something that affirms or asserts; a positive statement or proposition; affirmation.

2. a reply indicating assent, as Yes or I do.

3. a manner or mode that indicates assent.

   a reply in the affirmative.

4. the side, as in a debate, that affirms or defends a statement that the opposite side denies or attacks.

   to speak for the affirmative.

interjection

1. (used to indicate agreement, assent, etc.).

   “Is this the right way to Lake George?” “Affirmative.”

affirmative

/ əˈfɜːmətɪv /

adjective

1. confirming or asserting something as true or valid

   an affirmative statement

2. indicating agreement or assent

   an affirmative answer

3. logic

   1. (of a categorial proposition) affirming the satisfaction by the subject of the predicate, as in all birds have feathers; some men are married

   2. not containing negation Compare negative

noun

1. a positive assertion

2. a word or phrase stating agreement or assent, such as yes (esp in the phrase answer in the affirmative )

3. logic an affirmative proposition

4. the side in a debate that supports the proposition

1. military a signal codeword used to express assent or confirmation

Other Word Forms

• affirmatively adverb
• overaffirmative adjective
• overaffirmatively adverb
• preaffirmative adjective
• quasi-affirmative adjective
• quasi-affirmatively adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of affirmative¹

1400–50; < Latin affirmātīvus, equivalent to affirmāt- ( affirmation ) + -īvus -ive; replacing late Middle English affirmatyff < Middle French < Latin

Example Sentences

Unmentioned, though, is Israel’s direct, nondiscriminatory, affirmative nurturing of Israeli Arab families.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The conservative advocate who dismantled affirmative action is joining forces with a center-left Democrat and a Duke University economist to challenge another sacred cow in elite college admissions: preferential treatment for the offspring of alumni.

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Those moves occurred after a June 2023 Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action in college admissions had ripple effects in the business world.

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“This court held that race-based affirmative action in higher education must come to an end,” Solicitor Gen. D. John Sauer wrote in his brief.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Similar arguments about the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause were also the basis of the Supreme Court’s recent decisions striking down race-based affirmative action in college admissions.

Read more on Salon