📖 N — The English dictionary · page 7

negative — Everyday, meaning 1: A negative number is less than zero, like -3, written with a minus sign.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Negative means saying or meaning "no", like a negative answer.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Negative means bad, unhelpful or gloomy: a negative attitude.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A negative test result means the thing tested for was not found.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: In science, negative is one end of a battery or a kind of electric charge (-).↗ Everyday, meaning 6: A negative is an old film photo where light and dark are swapped.↗ Everyday, meaning 7: Negative can also mean the reverse or opposite side of something.↗ Example: -5 is a negative number.↗ · The temperature was negative 4 degrees overnight.↗ · Her answer was negative: she said no.↗ · Try not to be so negative about the test.↗ · The COVID test came back negative, so he could go to school.↗ · Connect the wire to the negative end of the battery.↗ · "I don't know nothing" is a double negative.↗ · Any number times a negative number changes its sign.↗ · Below zero on the thermometer, the numbers are negative.↗ · The Holy Water which destroys the Fiend is merely a Christian form of the "Water of Death," viewed in its negative aspect.↗ · There are three of which every one of them stands by itself; one is in the affirmative, the other in the negative and one equalizes them.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877)↗

neglect — Everyday, meaning 1: To not give enough care or attention to someone or something you should look after.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To forget or fail to do something: «He neglected to tell us.».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (noun) The state of not being cared for.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (law, safety) When parents or carers do not give a child food, safety, warmth or care, this is called neglect, and adults like teachers must help.↗ Example: The old house had been neglected for years.↗ · Don't neglect your teeth: brush them twice a day.↗ · The dog was rescued from neglect.↗ · He neglected to mention he had broken the window.↗ · The garden fell into neglect.↗ · Teachers must report it if they think a child suffers neglect.↗ · She neglected her homework and got behind.↗ · The faithful Nurse, meanwhile, did not neglect her duty.↗

neglected — Everyday, meaning 1: Neglected means not looked after or cared for: a neglected garden, a neglected dog.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Neglected is the past form of «neglect»: he neglected his homework means he did not do it or did not give it attention.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (law) A neglected child is one whose parents or carers do not give them the food, care or safety they need.↗ Example: The neglected garden was full of weeds.↗ · The rescue centre took in a neglected horse.↗ · He neglected his piano practice all week.↗ · The castle had been neglected for centuries.↗ · A neglected child may need help from social workers.↗ · Don't let your pets feel neglected.↗ · But during these warlike preparations an attempt at a peaceful solution of the difficulty was not neglected.↗

negligence — Everyday, meaning 1: Not taking proper care, so that something bad may happen.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (law) Failing to take the care that the law expects, which can lead to paying for harm.↗ Example: The accident was caused by negligence.↗ · Leaving the gate open was negligence.↗ · (law) The company was found guilty of negligence.↗ · Toad's negligence wrecked another motor-car.↗ · Medical negligence means a doctor did not take proper care.↗ · Owners must avoid negligence with dangerous dogs.↗

negligent — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: Careless, failing to do one's duty with proper care.↗ Example: My sons, be not now negligent; for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before Him, to minister unto Him, and that ye should be His ministers, and offer unto Him.'↗ (Writings 2CH.29.11, JPS 1917)↗

negligible — Everyday, meaning 1: So small or unimportant that it is not worth thinking about: a negligible amount.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (maths, science) Small enough to be ignored in a calculation.↗ Example: The extra cost was negligible.↗ · Air resistance is negligible for this experiment.↗ · The difference between the two answers is negligible.↗ · The risk of a shark attack at that beach is negligible.↗ · The damage to the car was negligible.↗ · The weight of the paper clip is negligible compared with the box.↗ · The new rule had a negligible effect on lateness.↗

negotiate — Everyday, meaning 1: To talk with others to reach an agreement, often each side giving a little: negotiate a deal.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To get something by talking and agreeing: they negotiated a later bedtime.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To get safely past or through something difficult: negotiate a steep path.↗ Example: We negotiated with Mum for an extra half hour of TV.↗ · The two countries negotiated a peace treaty.↗ · The class negotiated the rules for the game.↗ · The driver carefully negotiated the sharp bend.↗ · She negotiated a lower price at the market.↗ · Workers negotiated better pay.↗ · The hikers negotiated the rocky path down the mountain.↗ · When people learned of their existence, they all left the original artisan and went to them, honoring them, and negotiating with them in their building enterprises " (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗

negotiation — Everyday, meaning 1: Negotiation is talking with others to reach an agreement when you want different things, like deciding bedtime with your parents.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Negotiations are formal talks between countries, companies or groups, for example to end a war or agree a price.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (informal) Negotiation can mean finding a way through or past something difficult.↗ Example: After some negotiation, we agreed to share the swing.↗ · The price is open to negotiation.↗ · Peace negotiations can take many months.↗ · Good negotiation means both sides get something.↗ · My bedtime is not up for negotiation, says Mum.↗ · The teachers' union is in negotiations about pay.↗ · Negotiation is better than shouting.↗ · The countries began negotiations to end the war.↗ · After a brief contest negotiations of a peaceful nature were entered into between Odysseus and his subjects.↗

negro — Everyday, meaning 1: (outdated, now offensive) «Negro» was a word once used in English for a Black person, especially a person of African descent; today it is considered offensive and is not used to describe people.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (historical) It appears in old names and documents, for example the «Negro Leagues» in American baseball, «Negro spirituals», and in speeches by Dr Martin Luther King Jr, who used the word because it was normal in his time.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (Spanish, Portuguese) «Negro» means «black» in Spanish and Portuguese; it is in place names such as the Rio Negro («Black River») in South America.↗ Example: In old American documents the word «Negro» was used for Black people; today we say «Black».↗ · Jackie Robinson played in the Negro Leagues before joining Major League Baseball.↗ · «Swing Low, Sweet Chariot» is one of the old songs once called Negro spirituals.↗ · Martin Luther King Jr used words of his time in his speeches.↗ · The Rio Negro is a huge black-water river in the Amazon.↗ · In Spanish, «negro» simply means the colour black.↗

neigh — Everyday, meaning 1: verb.↗ e.g. When a horse neighs, it makes its long, high, loud call.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: noun.↗ e.g. The sound a horse makes.↗ Example: The horse neighed when it saw the farmer with the hay.↗ · We heard a loud neigh from the stable.↗ · The pony neighed and tossed its head.↗ · Cows moo and horses neigh.↗ · The frightened horse gave a high neigh and galloped away.↗ · Can you neigh like a horse?↗ · Proud, black horses, worth looking at, were neighing in the stable.↗ · Because ye are glad, because ye rejoice, O ye that plunder My heritage, because ye gambol as a heifer at grass, and neigh as strong horses; (Prophets JER.50.11, JPS 1917)↗

neighbor — Everyday, meaning 1: A neighbor is a person who lives next to you or near you.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A neighbor is also a person or thing that is next to another one, like the person in the next seat or a country next to another country.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: In maths, a number's neighbors are the numbers just before and after it: the neighbors of 7 are 6 and 8.↗ Example: Her neighbor gave her 6 eggs.↗ · He mowed 3 neighbors' lawns.↗ · The neighbor has 2 more dogs than Tim.↗ · She gave each neighbor 4 cookies.↗ · Our next-door neighbor feeds our cat when we go away.↗ · Canada is a neighbor of the United States.↗ · Say hello to the new neighbors.↗ · The neighbors of 20 on the number line are 19 and 21.↗ · I sat next to my neighbor on the bus.↗

neighbour — Everyday, meaning 1: A neighbour is a person who lives next to you or near you.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A neighbour is also a person or thing next to another one, like the pupil at the next desk or a country next to another country.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: In maths, a number's neighbours are the numbers just before and after it: the neighbours of 7 are 6 and 8.↗ Example: Her neighbour gave her 6 eggs.↗ · She baked cakes for 3 neighbours.↗ · Each neighbour got 5 sweets.↗ · The neighbour's garden has 12 roses.↗ · Our next-door neighbour has a noisy dog.↗ · Ireland's nearest neighbour is Great Britain.↗ · Turn to your neighbour and share your answer.↗ · The neighbours of 50 are 49 and 51.↗ · We invited the neighbours to the barbecue.↗ · I'll go to my rich neighbour.↗ · Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark.↗ (Torah DEU.27.17, JPS 1917)↗ · Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.↗ (Torah EXO.20.16, JPS 1917)↗ · Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.↗ (Torah DEU.5.20, JPS 1917)↗ · Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.↗ (Writings PRO.3.29, JPS 1917)↗ · A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his steps.↗ (Writings PRO.29.5, JPS 1917)↗ · Debate thy cause with thy neighbour, but reveal not the secret of another; (Writings PRO.25.9, JPS 1917)↗

neighbourhood — Everyday, meaning 1: A neighbourhood is the area around where you live, with its streets, homes and people.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The neighbourhood is the people who live in that area.↗ Example: There is a park in our neighbourhood.↗ · The whole neighbourhood came to the street party.↗ · We walked around the neighbourhood to look for the lost cat.↗ · Is there a library in your neighbourhood?↗ · It's a quiet neighbourhood with lots of trees.↗ · Neighbourhood Watch keeps an eye on the streets.↗ · There he stood and barked and growled at everyone that moved in his neighbourhood.↗

neighbourly — Everyday, meaning 1: Friendly and helpful in the way a good neighbour is.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) To do with neighbours: neighbourly relations.↗ Example: It was very neighbourly of you to feed our cat.↗ · We had a neighbourly chat over the fence.↗ · Sharing tomatoes from the garden is a neighbourly thing to do.↗ · Our street has a neighbourly feeling.↗ · They weren't very neighbourly; they never said hello.↗ · Being neighbourly means looking out for each other.↗ · You always were a neighbourly lad, Donald.↗

neither — Everyday, meaning 1: Neither means not this one and not that one, of two.↗ If neither cat is black, both cats are another colour.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: «Neither ... nor» joins two things that are both not true: «neither tea nor milk».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: «Me neither» or «neither do I» means I also do not.↗ Early Modern English, meaning 1: Used to say "not one nor the other"; also used to start a sentence with "not" and "nor" in the old way.↗ Example: Neither Tom nor Ann has a red pen.↗ · 5 pupils like neither tea nor milk.↗ · Neither box holds more than 10 balls.↗ · How many children play neither sport?↗ · Neither of my brothers likes football.↗ · «I can't swim.»↗ «Me neither.»↗ · In the Venn diagram, write the numbers in neither set outside the circles.↗ · She was neither hungry nor tired.↗ · Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.↗ (Torah DEU.5.20, JPS 1917)↗ · neither shalt thou favour a poor man in his cause.↗ (Torah EXO.23.3, JPS 1917)↗ · Then I said unto you: 'Dread not, neither be afraid of them.↗ (Torah DEU.1.29, JPS 1917)↗ · And he said: 'Neither hath the LORD chosen this.'↗ (Prophets 1SA.16.8, JPS 1917)↗ · Behold, He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep.↗ (Writings PSA.121.4, JPS 1917)↗ · A brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand this.↗ (Writings PSA.92.7, JPS 1917)↗ · Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.↗ (Torah DEU.5.20, JPS 1917) · I can neither fly nor swim.”↗ (Peter Pan) · neither shalt thou favour a poor man in his cause.↗ (Torah EXO.23.3, JPS 1917)

nelson — Everyday, meaning 1: A nelson is a hold in wrestling where you put your arm under your opponent's arm and push on the back of their neck; a full nelson uses both arms, a half nelson one.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (a name) Nelson is a man's first name or surname, as in Nelson Mandela, the South African leader.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (a name) Admiral Horatio Nelson was a famous British naval hero; Nelson's Column stands in Trafalgar Square, London.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (a name) Nelson is a city in New Zealand.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: (cricket) A «Nelson» is a score of 111, which some cricket fans think is unlucky.↗ Example: Nelson Mandela fought against apartheid.↗ · Nelson's Column is in Trafalgar Square in London.↗ · Admiral Nelson won the Battle of Trafalgar.↗ · The wrestler put his opponent in a full nelson.↗ · A half nelson uses only one arm.↗ · Nelson is a sunny city in New Zealand.↗ · (cricket) When the score reached 111, the umpire stood on one leg for Nelson.↗ · My cousin's name is Nelson.↗ · "They will put up a monument to us," said Harry, "as high as Nelson's!↗