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English
Etymology
From Middle French neutral (compare modern French neutre), from Latin neutralis. By surface analysis, neuter + -al.
Pronunciation
Adjective
neutral (comparative more neutral, superlative most neutral)
- (politics) Not taking sides in a conflict such as war; nonaligned.
- Favouring neither the supporting nor opposing viewpoint of a topic of debate; unbiased.
I am neutral regarding the issue of gay marriage.
- Neither positive nor negative.
- Neither beneficial nor harmful.
c. 1600, Sir John Davies, The Original, Nature, and Immortality of the Soul:Some things good, and some things ill, do seem,
And neutral some, in her fantastic eye.
2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, […] In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe.
- (biology) Having no sex; neuter.
- Having no obvious colour; gray
- (physics) Neither positive nor negative; possessing no charge or equivalent positive and negative charge such that there is no imbalance.
- (chemistry) Having a pH of or near 7, neither acidic nor alkaline.
- (liquor, chemistry) Of an alcoholic drink, having been fermented and distilled but with no additives.
- (roleplaying games) Having an alignment that is in between chaotic and lawful.
- Coordinate terms: chaotic, lawful
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
not taking sides in a conflict
- Albanian: neutral (sq)
- Arabic: مُحَايِد (ar) (muḥāyid)
- Armenian: չեզոք (hy) (čʿezokʿ)
- Basque: neutral
- Belarusian: нейтра́льны (njejtrálʹny), нэўтра́льны (neŭtrálʹny)
- Bulgarian: неутра́лен (bg) (neutrálen)
- Catalan: neutral (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 中立 (zh) (zhōnglì)
- Cornish: heptu, hebtu
- Czech: neutrální
- Danish: neutral (da)
- Dutch: neutraal (nl)
- Esperanto: neŭtrala (eo)
- Estonian: neutraalne, erapooletu
- Finnish: puolueeton (fi); liittoutumaton (fi) (nonaligned)
- French: neutre (fr)
- Georgian: ნეიტრალური (neiṭraluri), მიუმხრობელი (miumxrobeli)
- German: neutral (de)
- Greek: ουδέτερος (el) m (oudéteros)
- Hebrew: נטרלי (netrali)
- Hindi: तटस्थ (hi) (taṭasth)
- Hungarian: semleges (hu), kívülálló (hu), el nem kötelezett
- Indonesian: netral (id)
- Italian: neutrale (it)
- Japanese: 中立の (ja) (ちゅうりつの, chūritsu no)
- Korean: 중립의 (ko) (jungnib-ui)
- Kyrgyz: бейтарап (ky) (beytarap)
- Latvian: neitrāls
- Lithuanian: neutralus (lt)
- Macedonian: неутра́лен (neutrálen)
- Malay: neutral
- Maori: kūpapa, arero taiaha, tōkeke
- Nepali: तटस्थ (taṭastha)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: nøytral (no)
- Nynorsk: nøytral
- Persian: خُنثیٰ (fa) (xonsâ)
- Polish: neutralny (pl), bezstronny (pl)
- Portuguese: neutro (pt)
- Romanian: neutru (ro), imparțial (ro), neutral (ro)
- Russian: нейтра́льный (ru) (nejtrálʹnyj)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: не̏утра̄лан
- Roman: nȅutrālan (sh)
- Slovak: neutrálny
- Slovene: nevtralen
- Spanish: neutral (es)
- Swedish: neutral (sv)
- Tatar: нейтраль (neytral’), битараф (bitaraf)
- Turkish: nötr (tr), yansız (tr)
- Ukrainian: нейтра́льний (nejtrálʹnyj)
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favouring neither the supporting nor opposing viewpoint of a topic of debate
grammar: neither positive nor negative
neither beneficial nor harmful
physics: possessing no charge
chemistry: neither acidic nor alkaline
Translations to be checked
Noun
neutral (plural neutrals)
- A nonaligned state, or a member of such a state.
- A person who takes no side in a dispute.
1931, “Which Side Are You On?”, performed by Florence Patton Reece:They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there
You'll either be a union man
Or a thug for J.H. Blair.
- An individual or entity serving as an arbitrator or adjudicator.
- A neutral hue.
- The position of a set of gears in which power cannot be transmitted to the drive mechanism.
1961, Robert S. Close, With Hooves of Brass, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 124:He shoved the tractor into neutral, and, leaving the engine running, jumped down[.]
- An electrical terminal or conductor which has zero or close to zero voltage with respect to the ground.
Derived terms
Translations
person who takes no side in a dispute
Anagrams
Catalan
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin neutrālis.
Pronunciation
Adjective
neutral m or f (masculine and feminine plural neutrals)
- neutral
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
Danish
Adjective
neutral
- neutral
Inflection
Inflection of neutral
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Positive
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Comparative
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Superlative
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Indefinte common singular
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neutral
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—2
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Indefinite neuter singular
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neutralt
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—2
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Plural
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neutrale
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—2
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Definite attributive1
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neutrale
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1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. 2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.
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German
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Adjective
neutral (strong nominative masculine singular neutraler, comparative neutraler, superlative am neutralsten)
- (politics, physics, chemistry) neutral
Declension
Positive forms of neutral
Comparative forms of neutral
Superlative forms of neutral
Further reading
- “neutral” in Duden online
- “neutral” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin neutralis or Italian neutrale. By surface analysis, neutru + -al.
Adjective
neutral m or n (feminine singular neutrală, masculine plural neutrali, feminine and neuter plural neutrale)
- neutral
Declension
Spanish
Etymology
From Latin neutrālis.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /neuˈtɾal/
- Rhymes: -al
- Syllabification: neu‧tral
Adjective
neutral m or f (masculine and feminine plural neutrales)
- (politics) neutral
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
Swedish
Pronunciation
Adjective
neutral
- neutral
- (grammar) intransitive
Declension
Related terms
References