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A double negative almost always resolves to a positive meaning and even more so in colloquial speech where the speaker particularly stresses the first negative word. Meanwhile, a triple negative resolves to a negative meaning, which bares a stronger negativity than a single negative.
In rhetoric, litotes (/ l aɪ ˈ t oʊ t iː z, ˈ l aɪ t ə t iː z /, US: / ˈ l ɪ t ə t iː z /), [1] also known classically as antenantiosis or moderatour, is a figure of speech and form of irony in which understatement is used to emphasize a point by stating a negative to further affirm a positive, often incorporating double negatives for effect.
But the term "double negative" can sometimes refer to the standard English constructions called litotes or nested negatives, e.g., using "He is not unhealthy" to mean "He is healthy". In some cases, nested negation is used to convey nuance, uncertainty, or the possibility of a third option other than a statement or its negation.
Negative polarity can be indicated by negating words or particles such as the English not, or the Japanese affix-nai, or by other means, which reverses the meaning of the predicate. The process of converting affirmative to negative is called negation – the grammatical rules for negation vary from language to language, and a given language may ...
(the NPI anywhere is used in the environment of the preceding negative not) Note that double-negative constructions like I was not going nowhere take on an opposing meaning in formal usage, but that this is not necessarily the case in colloquial contexts and in various lects, which parallels other languages which have negative concord.
2.9 Negative determiners [1]: ... This is a list of English determiners. ... double, triple, quadruple, etc. References
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A negative answer, commonly expressed with the word no; A type of grammatical construction; see affirmative and negative; A double negative is a construction occurring when two forms of grammatical negation are used in the same sentence.