Comments on: A single word which means "negatively defined"?

Question: A single word which means "negatively defined"?

unknowncommand — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 10:07:55 -0800

Is there a single word which means "negatively defined" (or "defined by its opposite" or "defined by not being other things" or "defined by the absence of something")? In English if you can manage (I cannot think of one), but maybe in another language? German perhaps?

By: booksandlibretti

booksandlibretti — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 10:13:41 -0800

"Defined by not being other things" is, in medicine, a diagnosis of exclusion. Unfortunately that's a set phrase, rather than one word.

By: logicpunk

logicpunk — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 10:15:53 -0800

Maybe antithesis?

By: Alt F4

Alt F4 — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 10:41:22 -0800

whitespace

By: beagle

beagle — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 10:42:34 -0800

When you have a pair of words that describe opposite or mutually exclusive sets or conditions, the word pairs involved are called antonyms. Fair/unfair, hot/cold, American/un-American, light/dark, etc. In each case, one word is, or can be, defined by not being the other, by the absence of the other, or by being the opposite of the other.

By: pardonyou?

pardonyou? — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 10:52:32 -0800

This probably won't be particularly helpful, but in law there is a principle of construction that says that the exclusion of one thing implies the existence of the opposite (or vice versa). The Latin phrase for this principle is "expressio unius est exlusio alterius".

By: small_ruminant

small_ruminant — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 10:57:43 -0800

in grad school we used the unwieldy phrase "constituting other" for what it sounds like you're talking about. Simple examples are "non-males" or "non-whites."

By: CaptApollo

CaptApollo — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 10:58:25 -0800

Dichotomous/dichotomy is close.

By: caution live frogs

caution live frogs — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 10:58:58 -0800

Prokaryote.

Defined as "not a eukaryote". Characteristics are generally lack of specific structures found in eukaryotes (nucleus, for example). It's not your answer, but it's a specific example of what you mean: Maybe can help someone else come up with the word you are looking for.

It isn't an antonym, it isn't the opposite, it's just a category defined as "not the other". If you find the word, I want to know it.

By: small_ruminant

small_ruminant — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 11:02:42 -0800

now that I consider, I think the constituting Others in my examples would be "male" and "white," so it won't do you any good. Sorry.

By: aneel

aneel — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 11:13:27 -0800

Contrary? "An object, fact, or quality that is the very opposite of something else"

Converse? "A thing or action which is the exact opposite of another"

By: sonofsamiam

sonofsamiam — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 11:18:33 -0800

The rhetorical figure apophasis, adj. apophatic.

I hear the word mostly used in the context of apophatic theology, popular in medieval times and among certain mystic schools. The subject of theology (God) is taken as a given, and which is so different from all other things that we can only describe it in terms of what it is not. For example, God is so Good, whatever Goodness we may conceive of falls so short of the subject that it is bad in comparison.

The general rhetorical figure does not necessarily imply all that stuff, however.

By: nakedsushi

nakedsushi — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 11:46:35 -0800

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but the phoneme 'r' is defined as not being any other phoneme.

By: unknowncommand

unknowncommand — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 11:49:36 -0800

Yeah, to clarify, I'm not looking for a word that means "opposite", but more like what small_ruminant and caution live frogs are talking about. I was kind of hoping there would be some insane German phrase-word (that-which-is-defined-by-its-lack-of-being-another, or the like). I'm happy with all these other phrase examples though. They are interesting cross-disciplinary parallels.

By: unknowncommand

unknowncommand — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 11:51:54 -0800

exactly, nakedsushi, so if you had to come up with a one word adjective/noun to describe/name the phoneme 'r' in that capacity, what would it be?

By: adamrice

adamrice — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 12:03:33 -0800

sonofsiam got the word I was grasping for--apophasis. I confess I did a double take when he mentioned "I hear the word mostly used..." -- I have never heard the word used at all! But I've seen it written down, and I think this is the best candidate.

By: unknowncommand

unknowncommand — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 12:10:09 -0800

Oh! Or maybe sonofsamiam has it (sorry, just now read the link). It's close at least.

By: lyam

lyam — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 12:22:37 -0800

It's not exactly what you're looking for but it might lead to the right answer. I dunno. Maybe not. It's just a cool word, ok!?.

Enantiodromia

By: Mo Nickels

Mo Nickels — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 12:40:26 -0800

The opposite of apophatic, "attained through negation," by the way, is cataphatic, "attained through affirmation."

By: mrmojoflying

mrmojoflying — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 13:09:33 -0800

depending on the context and which of your original meanings you were working around ("negatively defined," "defined by its opposite," etc.) you might also use:

(a) différance (the French post-structuralist version)

(b) contradistinction

(c) lacuna (again, French post-structuralism)

(d) deduction (as in subtractive reasoning)

By: letourneau

letourneau — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 15:26:56 -0800

Litotes? "[U]nderstatement, for intensification, by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed." I guess that's a property of the description rather than the thing being described, though.

By: rob511

rob511 — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 15:38:21 -0800

"by default"

By: youarenothere

youarenothere — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 15:26:06 -0800

I thought of différance as well.