double negative

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English

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Examples
  • "Jimmy, you look awfully guilty, have you been naughty again?"
    "Me sir, no sir, I haven't done nothing wrong, I swear."
    The -n't and the nothing together create a double negative.
  • Never let nobody talk you into shaking another man's jolt.
    Nelson Algren, A Walk on the Wild Side
  • He nevere yet no vilaynie ne sayde.
    Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
    The highlighted terms create a triple negative.

Noun

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double negative (plural double negatives)

  1. (rhetoric, usually derogatory) A phrase including two negative words (no, not, never, etc.) especially when used as intensifiers in informal English.
    • 2006 Feb. 17, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 4:
      Nuh-nuh-doin'-duh... Nuh-nuh-doin'-duh... We don't need no education...
      Yes, you do. You've just used a double negative.

Translations

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See also

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