not
advEtymology
Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *naiw Proto-Germanic *wihtą Proto-West Germanic *wiht Proto-West Germanic *naiwwiht Old English nāwiht Old English *nōht Middle English nought Middle English not English not From Middle English not, nat, a variant of noght, naht (“not, nothing”), from Old English *nōht, nāht (“nought, nothing”), shortening of nōwiht, nāwiht (“nothing”, literally “not anything”), corresponding to ne (“not”) + ōwiht, āwiht (“anything”), corresponding to ā (“ever, always”) + wiht (“thing, creature”). Cognate with Scots nat, naucht (“not”), Saterland Frisian nit (“not”), West Frisian net (“not”), Dutch niet (“not”), German nicht (“not”). Compare nought, naught and aught. More at no, wight, whit.
- derived from not,nat
Definitions
Negates the meaning of the modified verb.
- Did you take out the trash? — No, I did not. I do not think it was my turn, was it?
- Not knowing any better, I went ahead.
- It was felt desirable that she not leave school before fourteen.
To no degree.
- That is not red; it's green.
- It's not you, it's me.
- Expectation: Everybody in the family has to love everybody else. Reaction: Not the ghost of Christmas past, present, or future could pull this one off unless feeling is already there.
Used to indicate the opposite or near opposite, often in a form of understatement.
- That day was not the best day of my life. (meaning the day was bad or awful)
- It was not my favorite movie of all time. (meaning the speaker dislikes or strongly dislikes the movie)
- In the not too distant future my view on the matter might be not a million miles away from yours.
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Used before a determiner phrase, a pronominal phrase etc. to convey a negative attitude…
Used before a determiner phrase, a pronominal phrase etc. to convey a negative attitude (e.g. denial, sadness, anger) towards something.
- Oh god, not that! Anything but that!
- Not another rainy day!
Used before a non-finite clause (especially a gerund-participial clause) or less commonly…
Used before a non-finite clause (especially a gerund-participial clause) or less commonly a determiner phrase to ironically convey some attitude (e.g. surprise, incredulity, amusement, embarrassment) towards something.
- Not me writing example sentences again.
- Not me crying by the end of that!! You are a brilliant, beautiful human who deserves no less than the world. Thank you for taking the time to watch unicorn store. It’s a film that means so much to me.
And not.
- I wanted a plate of shrimp, not a bucket of chicken.
- He painted the car blue and black, not solid purple.
- We can't run this bar without her. Not and raise two kids.
Used to indicate that the previous phrase was meant sarcastically or ironically.
- Near-synonyms: I don't think; psych; bender (obsolete, UK)
- I really like hanging out with my little brother watching Barney … not!
- Sure, you’re perfect the way you are … not!
An instance of using the word “not”
An instance of using the word “not”; a negation or denial.
Alternative letter-case form of NOT (“unary operation on logical values that changes true…
Alternative letter-case form of NOT (“unary operation on logical values that changes true to false, and false to true”).
Alternative spelling of Nut.
A unary operation on logical values that changes true to false, and false to true.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for not. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA