Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word not. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word not, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say not in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word not you have here. The definition of the word not will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofnot, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
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.’
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.
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.
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:
Palmer tells Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager to “mind y'all's business” when they ask about her relationship with 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:
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 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?
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.
^ Oftedal, M. (1956) A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. III: The Gaelic of Leurbost, Isle of Lewis, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap