not

See also: Not, NOT, nót, nôt, nốt, nőt, not., and Appendix:Variations of "not"

English

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

Adverb

not (not comparable)

  1. Negates the meaning of the modified verb.
    • 1973, Richard Nixon.
      Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got.
    Did you take out the trash? No, I did not.
    Not knowing any better, I went ahead.
  2. To no degree
    That is not red; it's orange.

Usage notes

In modern usage, do-support requires that the form do not ... (or don’t ...) is preferred to ... not for all but a short list of verbs (is/am/are/was/were, have/has/had, can/could, shall/should, will/would, may/might, 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, and even this usage is rare, especially in the US.

  • You don’t need to trouble yourself. (common)
  • You needn’t trouble yourself. (outside US, rare)
  • 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.)

Translations

Conjunction

not

  1. 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

Interjection

not!

  1. (slang, 1990s) Used to indicate that the previous phrase was meant sarcastically or ironically.
    I really like hanging out with my little brother watching Barney... not!
    Sure, you're perfect the way you are... not!

Synonyms

Translations

See also

  • Appendix:American Dialect Society words of the year

Noun

not (plural nots)

  1. Unary logical function NOT, true if input is false, or a gate implementing that negation function.
    You need a not there to conform with the negative logic of the memory chip.

Translations

Contraction

not

  1. (obsolete) Contraction of ne wot, wot not; know not; knows not.
    • Geoffrey Chaucer's The Knight's Tale.
      I noot which was the fairer of hem two

See also

See also

Anagrams

Albanian

Etymology

From notoj.

Noun

not m

  1. a swim

Aromanian

Etymology 1

From Greek νότος (nótos).

Alternative forms

Noun

not m

  1. dry wind from the south

Synonyms

  • iug

See also

Verb

not

  1. Alternative form of anot to swim

Etymology 3

From anot (“I swim”). Compare Italian nuoto, Portuguese nado.

Noun

not m

  1. swim, swimming

Synonyms

  • notalui

Danish

Etymology 1

From German Nut.

Noun

not c (singular definite noten, plural indefinite noter)

  1. (mechanics) A groove.
Inflection

Etymology 2

From Norwegian not.

Noun

not class /n (singular definite noten or notet, plural indefinite noter or not)

  1. (fishing) seine net
    Synonym: snurpenot
Inflection
Derived terms
  • snurpenot

Etymology 3

See etymology on the main entry.

Verb

not

  1. imperative of note

Icelandic

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /nɔːt/
  • Rhymes: -ɔːt

Noun

not n pl (plurale tantum)

  1. use

Declension

Synonyms

Derived terms

  • koma að notum (to be of use, to be useful)

Luxembourgish

Adjective

not

  1. inflected form of no

Old English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin nota.

Noun

not m (nominative plural notas)

  1. a sign; mark; a mark made on an object

Declension

Descendants

Old Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse nót, from Proto-Germanic *nōtō.

Noun

nōt f

  1. net, seine

Declension

Descendants

Romansch

Alternative forms

  • (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran) notg

Etymology

From Latin noctem, accusative of nox, from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts.

Noun

not f (plural nots)

  1. (Puter, Vallader) night

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

not m (genitive singular not, plural notaichean)

  1. Alternative form of nota.

Swedish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈnuːt/

Noun

not c

  1. (music) note.
  2. a short message; note.
  3. (diplomacy) a formal message from a country to another country’s embassy.

Declension

Declension of not 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative not noten noter noterna
Genitive nots notens noters noternas

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English North.

Noun

not

  1. North

Turkish

Noun

not (definite accusative notu, plural notlar)

  1. a short message; note
    Not: Seni seviyorum. ― PS: I love you.

Declension

Inflection
Nominative not
Definite accusative notu
Singular Plural
Nominative not notlar
Definite accusative notu notları
Dative nota notlara
Locative notta notlarda
Ablative nottan notlardan
Genitive notun notların
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