not
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
From Middle English not, nat, variant of noght, naht (“not, nothing”), from Old English *nōht, nāht (“nought, nothing”), short for 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.
Pronunciation
- (UK)
- (US)
- (Ireland)
- (General Australian)
- Homophone: knot
- Homophones: naught, nought (cot–caught merger)
- Rhymes: -ɒt
Adverb
not (not comparable)
- Negates the meaning of the modified verb.
- 1973 November 17, Richard Milhous Nixon, Orlando press conference:
- 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, →OCLC, section I, page 42:
- The sound of Abba singing ‘Dancing Queen’ had started up in a room the other side of the court. Adrian slammed the window shut.
‘That’ll teach you to throw things out of the window,’ said Gary.
‘It’ll teach me not to throw things out of the window.’
- 1998 January 26, William Jefferson Clinton, White House press conference:
- I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.
- 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
- Did you take out the trash? No, I did not.
- Not knowing any better, I went ahead.
- To no degree.
- 1984 December 22, John Stout, “Home for the Holidays: Survival Strategies for Gays”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 23, page 5:
- 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.
- That is not red; it's green.
- (litotes) 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.
- 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!
- (ironic, informal, originally African-American Vernacular) 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. [attested since the late 2000s, popularized around 2020][1][2]
- Not me writing example sentences again. ― Oh my, there I go writing example sentences again!
- 2023 July 8, @brielarson [Brie Larson], Twitter:
- 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.
- 2023 December 9, “Keke Palmer and Darius Jackson: A Complete Relationship Timeline”, in Glamour:
- [Keke] Palmer tells Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager to “mind y'all's business” when they ask about her relationship with [Darius] Jackson. ¶ “Not y’all trying to get into it! They trying it on the Today show,” Palmer joked when the subject was first brought up on Today With Hoda & Jenna.
Usage notes
In modern usage, do-support requires that the form do not ... (or don’t ...) be preferred to ... not for all but a short list of verbs (be, have, can, shall, will, would, may, must, need, ought):
- They do not sow. (modern) vs. They sow not. (KJB)
American usage tends to prefer don’t have or haven’t got to have not or haven’t, except when have is used as an auxiliary (or in the idiom have-not):
- I don’t have a clue or I haven’t got a clue. (US)
- I haven’t a clue or I haven’t got a clue. (outside US)
- I haven’t been to Spain. (universal)
The verb need is only directly negated when used as an auxiliary; this usage is rare in the US but common elsewhere.
- You don’t need to trouble yourself. (common in US)
- You needn’t trouble yourself. (common outside US)
- I don’t need any eggs today. (universal)
The verb dare can sometimes be directly negated.
- I daren't do that.
The verb do, as a main verb, takes do not.
- He does not do that.
In the imperative, all verbs, including be, take do not.
- Don't do that.
- Don't be silly. (not *Be not silly.)
In the infinitive, verbs must be negated directly. In this case not cannot appear after the verb; some authorities recommend placing it before to to avoid a split infinitive, but for most speakers the forms not to do and to not do are more or less interchangeable, with the latter being mostly informal.
- The objective is not to lose or The objective is to not lose.
- I wanted not to go or I wanted to not go. (Note the difference between this and I didn't want to go, where want is the verb being negated.)
In the subjunctive mood, do-support is not used for negation; not is placed by itself, or with should, immediately before the verb it modifies, even be:
- They suggested that he (should) not do it.
- The law requires that it (should) not be done.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
negates meaning of verb
|
Conjunction
not
- And not.
- I wanted a plate of shrimp, not a bucket of chicken.
- He painted the car blue and black, not solid purple.
Usage notes
- The construction “A, not B” is synonymous with the constructions “A, and not B”; “not B, but A”; and “not B, but rather A”.
Translations
And not
|
Interjection
not!
- (slang) Used to indicate that the previous phrase was meant sarcastically or ironically. [chiefly 1990s]
- I really like hanging out with my little brother watching Barney … not!
- Sure, you’re perfect the way you are … not!
- 1911 March, Zane Grey, “Out on the Field”, in The Young Pitcher, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC, page 64:
- You've got a swell chance to make this [baseball] team, you have, not! Third base is my job, Freshie. Why, you tow-head, you couldn't play marbles. You butter-finger, can't you stop anything?
- 1949, E.E 'Doc' Smith, chapter XIV, in Skylark of Valeron, London: Panther, published 1974, page 134:
- "See?" "Uh-huh! Clear and lucid to the point of limpidity - 'not."
- 2006 May 2, Steve Goldfarb, “Spilling out drops of wine at the Seder”, in soc.culture.jewish.moderated (Usenet):
- Because, of course, sympathy is finite -- and if you use it up on the wrong person then you won't have any left. Not.
Synonyms
Translations
See also
Noun
not (plural nots)
- An instance of using the word “not”; a negation or denial.
- 1922 March 4, “Fed on Fear Too Much”, in The Pathfinder, volume 29, number 1470, Washington, D.C.: Pathfinder Publishing Company, page 33:
- The children are taught to be afraid of winter, of war, of death, of hard times, of disease, of examtinations. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that children so seldom find the conversation of their elders uplifting. It is full of don’ts, buts and nots.
- Alternative letter-case form of NOT (“unary operation on logical values that changes true to false, and false to true”).
Usage notes
Boolean operators and states are commonly written in all uppercase in order to distinguish them from the ordinary uses of the words.
Translations
See also
References
- Colin Morris (2021 April 11) “Not them having a whole zoo—the rise of ironic "not"”, in colin_morris
- Guilherme M. C. Pereira (2023 December 19) “Not me getting with the times: A new kind of not-fragment in English”, in Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity, volume 5, number 1, Yale University Department of Linguistics
Further reading
- “not”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
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