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negativism

American  
[neg-uh-ti-viz-uhm] / ˈnɛg ə tɪˌvɪz əm /

noun

  1. a negative or pessimistic attitude.

  2. Psychology. a tendency to resist external commands, suggestions, or expectations, or internal stimuli, as hunger, by doing nothing or something contrary or unrelated to the stimulus.

  3. any system of negative philosophy, as agnosticism or skepticism.

negativism British  
/ ˈnɛɡətɪvˌɪzəm /

noun

  1. a tendency to be or a state of being unconstructively critical

  2. any sceptical or derisive system of thought

  3. psychiatry refusal to do what is expected or suggested or the tendency to do the opposite

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • negativist noun
  • negativistic adjective
  • nonnegativism noun
  • nonnegativistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of negativism

First recorded in 1815–25; negative + -ism

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.