double negative
Two canceling denials
A double negative uses two negative words in the same clause: I don't have no money.
In standard English, this construction is considered incorrect—the negatives are supposed to cancel out.
But in many dialects and informal speech, double negatives intensify rather than cancel: I can't get no satisfaction means profound dissatisfaction, not contentment.
Languages like Spanish and French require double negatives as standard grammar.
- not uncommonOccurring fairly often
- understatementIntentional diminishment for effect
- two wrongsTwo separate transgressions
- cancel outNeutralize by opposing force
- ain'tInformal negative contraction
mistake · word · no · incorrect · contradiction · nonstandard · figure of speech · neither · meiosis · never · dialects · error · emphasis · grammar · vernacular · prescriptivism · affirmative · proposition
- grammar debatesirregardless, ain't, split infinitive, singular they, could of
- language errorsspelling error, spelling mistake, typo, misspelling, syntax error
- Writing Errorstypo, misspelling, comma splice, run-on sentence, sentence fragment
- negativesno, not, never, none, nothing
- dialect featuresregionalism, localism, colloquialism, vernacular, patois
- text errorstypo, misspelling, misprint, spelling mistake, missing letter
double, negative, doubled, negate, doubling, negation, negativity, negatives, negating