negate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin negātus, the past participle of negō (“to say no, deny, refuse”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} and Barnhart and Etymonline think it may also be a back-formation from negation,^[7][8] which is recorded far earlier, before 1425.^[2][7] Barnhart suggests that the verb may have been formed separately several times, given how rare it was until the late 19th century.^[7] The Latin verb is built on neg-, an extended form of ne- (“not”),^[2][5] and a variant of nec (“not”),^[7][3] and so comes from Proto-Indo-European *ne- (“not”),^[8][9] which is also behind no.^[7] Klein compares Lithuanian negi (“not”) and Old Saxon nec (“and not”),^[4] and Collins alone adds aiō (“I say”) as the second element.^[10] Compare Spanish negar, Portuguese negar and Italian negare.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To deny, or to make ineffective: the first record is in Cockeram's English Dictionarie of 1623,^[2][7][6] and early use leaned to the sense "deny".^[2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline treats the 1620s use as isolated and dates the established verb to 1795,^[8] Barnhart finds it uncommon until the late 1800s,^[7] and the Shorter Oxford calls it rare before the mid 19th century.^[5] Over that time the meaning moved from denying the existence or truth of something towards cancelling it out or making it ineffective, which the OED now puts first and Collins lists first.^[2][10] The grammatical sense, to make a statement negative in form or meaning, is an English development: the OED records it from 1880,^[2] the Shorter Oxford from the mid 20th century.^[5] Merriam-Webster also has a noun, the contradictory of a statement.^[6]

Timeline

• 1623 – to deny; to nullify.^[2][7][6]
• 1880 – to make negative in form or meaning.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make ineffective or invalid; to nullify or cancel out: The new fees negated any saving from the merger.^[10][6][2]
2. To deny the existence, truth or fact of something; to contradict.^[6][10][2]
3. To make a statement negative in form or meaning.^[2][5]
4. To deny something, without an object.^[6]

Noun

1. The contradictory of a statement or proposition.^[6]

Word family

• negator
• unnegated

Related words

• negative
• negativism
• negation
• abnegate
• deny
• renegade
• renege
• runagate
• neglect
• negotiate
• no

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins