not
adverb · noun
Simple meaning
Negates the meaning of the modified verb.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nahtIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈnɑt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adverb
Negates the meaning of the modified verb.
litotes
Used to indicate the opposite or near opposite, often in a form of understatement.
To no degree.
Used before a determiner phrase, a pronominal phrase etc. to convey a negative attitude (e.g. denial, sadness, anger) towards something.
noun
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 to false, and false to true").
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Negates the meaning of the modified verb.
Used this way, not is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use not
- “He does not speak French.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.