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not

Syllabification: (not)
Pronunciation: /nät/
Translate not | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of not

adverb

  • 1 (also n't joined to a preceding verb) used with an auxiliary verb or “be” to form the negative:he would not say she isn’t there didn’t you tell me?
  • used in some constructions with other verbs: [with infinitive]:he has been warned not to touch the pain of not knowing she not only wrote the text but also researched the photographs
  • 2used as a short substitute for a negative clause:maybe I’ll regret it, but I hope not “Don’t you keep in touch?” “I’m afraid not.” they wouldn’t know if I was telling the truth or not
  • 3used to express the negative of other words:not a single attempt was made treating the symptoms and not the cause “How was it?” “Not so bad.”
  • used with a quantifier to exclude a person or part of a group:not all the poems are serious
  • less than (used to indicate a surprisingly small quantity):the brakes went on not ten feet from him
  • 4used in understatements to suggest that the opposite of a following word or phrase is true:the not too distant future not a million miles away
  • informal humorous following and emphatically negating a statement:that sounds like quality entertainment—not
    [a usage popularized by the film Wayne's World]

noun

(often NOT) Electronics
  • a Boolean operator with only one variable that has the value one when the variable is zero and vice versa.
  • (also not gate) a circuit that produces an output signal only when there is not a signal on its input.

adjective

(often Not) Art
  • (of paper) not hot-pressed, and having a slightly textured surface.

Phrases

not at all

  • 1used as a polite response to thanks.
  • 2definitely not:“You don’t mind?” “Not at all.”

not but what

archaic nevertheless:not but what the picture has its darker side

not half

see half.

not least

see least.

not quite

see quite.

not that

it is not to be inferred that:I’ll never be allowed back—not that I’d want to go back

not a thing

nothing at all.

not very

see very.

Origin:

Middle English: contraction of the adverb nought

not in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of not in the British & World English dictionary