double negative

English

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

double negative (plural double negatives)

(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

phrase in which there are two negative words

Czech: dvojitý zápor m
German: doppelte Verneinung (de)
Hungarian: kettős tagadás
Icelandic: tvöföld neitun f
Portuguese: duplo negativo m, negativo duplo m
Swedish: dubbelnegation c, dubbel negation c

See also

litotes
negative concord
contranym

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