What words can you think of that exist only in the negative?

Question

Some examples are:

DISgruntled- there is no such word "gruntled"
UNearthed- no such word "earthed"

Can you think of any more??

Answer 1

Given your question, you will just LOVE and laugh your way through the following classic, humorous piece, How I Met My Wife, Jack Winter, the New Yorker, July 25, 1994:

http://beebo.org/smackerels/how-i-met-my-wife.html

It was deliberately written to have dozens of examples of the negative-only words you're looking for. You'll get the author's prank immediately. Enjoy!

Please vote: Did this help?

Answer 2

actually you are wrong, gruntled is a word, it means to put in a good humour, and i believe earthed is a word too, all you did was put a negative prefix on a word. some of the other answers were wrong too, franchise is a word, member is a word, etc. Id say that negative is one, which you used but not as an example, no would be another. sadly or bad could be a negative word too i guess.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, BOTH your examples are mistaken.

A) You are mistaken about "disgruntled", but so is TomHale. Do not just assume that a "dis" prefix turns a positive word into a negative. In fact, in some cases it serves instead as an intensifier.

That is what happened here. "Gruntled" came first, with the meaning of 'angry, complaining' (related to the word "grunt"), Adding the "dis-" made it stronger. (BTW, the -le prefix here refers to something done repeatedly, and "gruntle" is close in meaning to "grumble".)

http://www.word-detective.com/081203.html
http://www.webster.com/dictionary/disgruntle

For more on the 'intensifying use, see the discussion of "dis" in "dismantle".
http://word-detective.com/0706A.html

So be careful about "dis" words -- check them out first.

B) You CAN speak of something being "earthed". Note the following dictionary entry:

v. earthed, earth·ing, earths
v.tr.
1. To cover or heap (plants) with soil for protection.
2. To chase (an animal) into an underground hiding place.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/earth

The same sorts of things may be true of some other suggestions.

A)
** I've already mentioned "dismantled" (see the link above), but given its complicated history, this may be a legitimate entry. There IS such a word as "mantle(d)", which goes back to the same root meaning of "mantle" (a sort of cloak) -- 'mantled' meaning coverd as with a cloak, 'dismantle' referring, originally, to removing a cloak. So they are no longer simple opposites.

Incidentally, "disembowled" is another example of the intensive use, since "embowled" has the same basic meaning. Something similar is true of "disturb"

B)
The "dis" of "disenfranchise" IS a negative prefix. BUT "enfranchise(d)" is perfectly fine English.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/enfranchised

**"Dismembered" does seem to stand up.


Though we may use "uncouth" more, "couth" is a perfectly fine word.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/couth

Again, "ruth" means "pity, compassion", and "ruthful", though rare, is real.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ruth
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ruthful

Also real are "clement" (meaning 'inclined to be merciful, forgiving') and "kempt".
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/clement
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kempt

Now these particular forms may not be in OUR everyday vocabulary, but they are legitimate and NOT obsolete. So you certainly cannot say they "exist only in the negative"


Of the words above, only "dismembered" and "dismantled" seem to hold up.

-------------------

As for VT's link (which IS a hoot, however tedious the following gets!) here's my attempted analysis

I found 65 words or expressions in Winter's piece that play on reversing familiar expressions.

In fact, many of the words used are legitimate words (one or two, like 'gruntled', listed above), but they may be uncommon. and/or the author uses them in unusual contexts (esp. in idiomatic expressions that only appear in the negative. (I found 27 words that may appear to people to be made-up but which are perfectly standard [and not obsolete] English.)

From the rest, I believe the following sixteen words answer the original question:

debunk
disabuse*, disconcerting, disconsolate, dismayed, disshevelled
inadvertantly, incognito, incommunicado
misgivings, misnomer
nonchalant, nondescript, nonpareil, nonplussed
unbeknowst

*the is the opposite of an obsolete sense of 'abuse' (in the sense of 'deceive'); the same may be true for a few others (e.g., 'misgivings' is based on an archaic sense of 'givings' as 'suggestions')

borderline cases = inept, insipid

The opposite of 'inept' is 'apt' -- both from the same Latin word, but the vowel changed along the way for the first one.

Similarly, with 'insipid'. There is a positive form, 'sapid' (agreable, having taste), though you could argue this is idiomatically used differently, and add insipid to your list.

Finally, a few which do not have an obvious parallel positive form: inchoate, impetuous, impromptu. These don't work, because the "in" in each of these is NOT being used as a negative prefix.

Answer 4

Dismembered

Answer 5

Antidisestablishmentarianism

Answer 6

Discipline

Answer 7

They may exist in the positive but I never hear them:
Unkempt-I have never heard "You look very kempt today"
Inclement-who ever heard of clement weather?

Answer 8

reckless
ruthless
uncouth
(Even though 'reck', 'ruth' and 'couth' are words, they are never used in everyday speech.)
.
VT - that is hilarious. Thanx for the laugh.
.

Answer 9

VT -

Brilliant!

Answer 10

uncouth