positive vs substantive

positive

adj
  • Wholly what is expressed; colloquially downright, entire, outright. 

  • Not negative or neutral. 

  • Stated definitively and without qualification. 

  • Describing the primary sense of an adjective, adverb or noun; not comparative, superlative, augmentative nor diminutive. 

  • Optimistic. 

  • Good, desirable, healthful, pleasant, enjoyable; (often precedes 'energy', 'thought', 'feeling' or 'emotion'). 

  • Overconfident, dogmatic. 

  • Of a visual image, true to the original in light, shade and colour values. 

  • Of number, greater than zero. 

  • Having more protons than electrons. 

  • HIV positive. 

  • Characterized by constructiveness or influence for the better. 

  • Characterized by the presence of features which support a hypothesis. 

  • Favorable, desirable by those interested or invested in that which is being judged. 

  • Formally laid down. 

  • Derived from an object by itself; not dependent on changing circumstances or relations. 

  • Characterized by the existence or presence of distinguishing qualities or features, rather than by their absence. 

  • electropositive 

  • Fully assured in opinion. 

  • Actual, real, concrete, not theoretical or speculative. 

  • Describing a verb that is not negated, especially in languages which have distinct positive and negative verb forms, e.g., Finnish. 

  • basic; metallic; not acid; opposed to negative, and said of metals, bases, and basic radicals. 

noun
  • A degree of comparison of adjectives and adverbs. 

  • A positive result of a test. 

  • An adjective or adverb in the positive degree. 

  • A favourable point or characteristic. 

  • A positive image; one that displays true colors and shades, as opposed to a negative. 

  • A thing capable of being affirmed; something real or actual. 

  • Something having a positive value in physics, such as an electric charge. 

  • The positive plate of a voltaic or electrolytic cell. 

substantive

adj
  • Of or pertaining to a substantive. 

  • Constituting the substance of content rather than its style, and thus always nontrivial. 

  • actually and legally held, as distinct from an acting, temporary or honorary rank or appointment 

  • Having substance; enduring; solid; firm; substantial. 

  • of the essence or essential element of a thing. 

  • applying to essential legal principles and rules of right. 

  • Depending on itself; independent. 

  • of a dye that does not need the use of a mordant to be made fast to that which is being dyed 

noun
  • Part of a text that carries the meaning, such as words and their ordering. 

verb
  • to make a word belonging to another part of speech into a substantive (that is, a noun) or use it as a noun 

How often have the words positive and substantive occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )