negative vs sign

negative

noun
  • An image in which dark areas represent light ones, and the converse. 

  • Refusal or withholding of assents; prohibition, veto 

  • A repetition performed with a weight in which the muscle begins at maximum contraction and is slowly extended; a movement performed using only the eccentric phase of muscle movement. 

  • The negative plate of a voltaic or electrolytic cell. 

  • A right of veto. 

  • An unfavorable point or characteristic. 

  • A word that indicates negation. 

  • A negative quantity. 

intj
  • No; nay. 

verb
  • To contradict. 

  • To disprove. 

  • To make ineffective; to neutralize, to negate. 

  • To refuse; to veto. 

adj
  • Often preceded by emotion, energy, feeling, or thought: to be avoided, bad, difficult, disagreeable, painful, potentially damaging, unpleasant, unwanted. 

  • Characterized by the presence of features which do not support a hypothesis. 

  • Less than zero degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit. 

  • Damaging; undesirable; unfavourable. 

  • Of or relating to a photographic image in which the colours of the original, and the relations of left and right, are reversed. 

  • Of electrical charge of an electron and related particles 

  • Denying a proposition. 

  • Not positive nor neutral. 

  • HIV negative. 

  • COVID-19 negative. 

  • Pessimistic; not tending to see the bright side of things. 

  • Of a number: less than zero 

  • Metalloidal, nonmetallic; contrasted with positive or basic. 

sign

noun
  • A clearly visible object, generally flat, bearing a short message in words or pictures. 

  • An astrological sign. 

  • A specific gesture or motion used to communicate by those with speaking or hearing difficulties; now specifically, a linguistic unit in sign language equivalent to word in spoken languages. 

  • Sign language in general. 

  • A wonder; miracle; prodigy. 

  • A perceptible (e.g. visible) indication. 

  • A property of the body that indicates a disease and, unlike a symptom, can be detected objectively by someone other than the patient. 

  • A military emblem carried on a banner or standard. 

  • Physical evidence left by an animal. 

  • A semantic unit, something that conveys meaning or information (e.g. a word of written language); (linguistics, semiotics) a unit consisting of a signifier and a signified concept. (See sign (semiotics).) 

  • An omen. 

  • Positive or negative polarity, as denoted by the + or - sign. 

verb
  • To write (one's name) as a signature. 

  • To validate or ratify (a document) by writing one's signature on it. 

  • To communicate using gestures to (someone). 

  • To bless (someone or something) with the sign of the cross; to mark with the sign of the cross. 

  • To engage (a sports player, musician etc.) in a contract. 

  • To determine the sign of 

  • To cross oneself. 

  • To furnish (a road etc.) with signs. 

  • More generally, to write one's signature on (something) as a means of identification etc. 

  • To write one's signature. 

  • To finalise a contractual agreement to work for a given sports team, record label etc. 

  • To use sign language. 

  • To communicate or make known (a meaning, intention, etc.) by a sign. 

  • To calculate or derive whether a quantity has a positive or negative sign. 

  • To mark, to put or leave a mark on. 

  • To communicate using a gesture or signal. 

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