not

adverb \ ˈnät \

Definition of not

1 —used as a function word to make negative a group of words or a word

2 —used as a function word to stand for the negative of a preceding group of words

is sometimes hard to see and sometimes not

See not defined for English-language learners

See not defined for kids

Examples of not in a Sentence

He was standing not six feet away from me.
The bullet passed not five inches from my head!

Recent Examples of not from the Web

Locals sign up for the event, but don't be surprised if celebrities make an appearance.

— jessica hice, Indianapolis Star, "11 free things to do at the Indiana Black Expo Summer Celebration," 6 July 2017
Can't wait to see this come to life on the big screen.

— sarah wu, Teen Vogue, "Shailene Woodley's Adrift SFX Makeup," 6 July 2017
Exercise isn’t boring with these four innovative (and wacky) fitness routines.

— alexandra sifferlin, Time, "4 Weird Ways to Work Out," 6 July 2017
Veil survived the Holocaust, but her mother, father and brother did not.

— brigit katz, Smithsonian, "France’s Simone Veil Will Become the Fifth Woman Buried in the Panthéon," 6 July 2017
And the bloodbath won’t end soon: this winter, a report by Moody’s Investors Service found that debt maturities were on their way to record levels in the next five years.

— phil wahba, PEOPLE.com, "True Religion Brand Jeans Files for Bankruptcy," 6 July 2017
The June coaching change didn't sacrifice a good recruiting class.

— bill landis, cleveland.com, "The cost of Ohio State basketball's untimely coaching change? A great Ohio recruiting class," 6 July 2017
Still, as Deadline noted on Friday, True Detective has not received the formal green light for a third season.

— esquire editors, Esquire, "Mahershala Ali Is Reportedly in Talks to Star in True Detective Season 3," 6 July 2017
Their joint celebration on the Fourth isn't Affleck and Garner's first reunion since filing for divorce.

— erica gonzales, Harper's BAZAAR, "Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner Spend July 4th Together," 5 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'not.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of not

Middle English, alteration of nought, from nought, pronoun — more at naught

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 13th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

NOT

noun \ ˈnät \

Definition of NOT

: a logical operator (see operator 3a) that produces a statement that is the inverse (see ²inverse 3a) of an input statement

Origin and Etymology of not

not

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1947

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

Other Computer-Related Terms

adware, flash, kludge, phishing, recursive, router

NOT Defined for English Language Learners

not

adverb

Definition of not for English Language Learners

—used to form the negative of modal verbs (such as “should” and “could”) and auxiliary verbs (such as “do” and “have”)
—used with a negative word to make a positive statement
—used humorously at the end of a positive statement to show that you really meant the opposite