negation

noun

• 1the contradiction or denial of something:there should be confirmation—or negation—of the findings
• Grammar denial of the truth of a clause or sentence, typically involving the use of a negative word (e.g. not, no, never) or a word or affix with negative force (e.g. nothing, non-).
• [count noun] Logic a proposition whose assertion specifically denies the truth of another proposition:the negation of A is, briefly, ‘not A’
• Mathematics inversion: [count noun]:these formulae and their negations

• 2the absence or opposite of something actual or positive:evil is not merely the negation of goodness