Negation

Definition

Negation in plain English

A negation is just the flat opposite of a statement, flipping it from true to false or false to true. If the statement is "all cats are black," its negation isn't "all cats are white"; it's "NOT all cats are black," meaning at least one cat isn't black. That subtlety matters a lot in logic: the true opposite of "all" is "at least one isn't," not "none." Think of negation as adding the word "not" in exactly the right spot so the new statement is true precisely when the original is false.

Related GMAT terms

• Argument
• Assumption
• Combination
• Conditional
• Contrapositive
• Correlation
• Factor
• Function
• Inductive Argument
• Modus Ponens