affirmative

noun

Definition of affirmativenext
as in approval
a vote or decision for something we have five affirmatives and two negatives for forming the committee

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of affirmative Howard asked Nuñez, to which the FBI agent answered in the affirmative. — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 23 Apr. 2026 When asked if Brooks, who is coming off the second ACL surgery of his young career, would be available for the offseason program, Canales answered in the affirmative. — Mike Kaye march 30, Charlotte Observer, 30 Mar. 2026 Lue replied when a reporter answered in the affirmative. — Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 8 Jan. 2026 Deputy Superintendent Derald Davis answered in the affirmative and added that administrative support is being given to those staff members and/or the school site. — Connye Griffin, Kansas City Star, 7 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for affirmative
Recent Examples of Synonyms for affirmative
  1. approval
  2. acceptance
  3. yes
Noun
  • Only one of them preserves the approval step, and the approval step is the point.
    — Zennon Kapron, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Failing that, Zelenskyy wants to make Patriot ammunition in Ukraine or get approval from Elon Musk to use his Starlink satellite communications system to guide strikes inside Russia that can hit its missile launchers.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 9 Aug. 2026
Definition of approval
Noun
  • The failures of England’s previous generations were multi-faceted, but how much did the national culture feed into the acceptance of their behaviour?
    — Mark Carey, New York Times, 9 Aug. 2026
  • An agent can pass every acceptance criterion and still leave behind new dependencies from your business core straight into a vendor’s SDK.
    — Evan J. Schwartz, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of acceptance
Noun
  • Meaningful consent requires more than asking a question and receiving a yes.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 5 Aug. 2026
  • The proposal received 660 yes votes, or 41%, to 945 no votes, or 59%, in the county, which Trump carried by 66 points in 2024.
    — Ben Wheeler, Kansas City Star, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of yes

Browse Nearby Words

affirmations
affirmative
affirmatives
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Affirmative.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/affirmative. Accessed 11 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on affirmative

Nglish: Translation of affirmative for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Aug. 7

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
fridge-magnet-letters
Drop a Letter Quiz August 2026 Drop a letter from a word to make a totally diffe...
See All