ETYM Old Eng. not, noht, nought, naught, the same word as Eng. naught. Related to Naught.
(Homonym: knot, naught).
Negation of a word or group of words.
1. Not; in-, non- — in adjectives formed from adjectives or participles , in nouns formed from nouns , and rarely in verbs formed from verbs — sometimes in words that have a meaning that merely negates that of the base word and are thereby distinguished from words that prefix in- or a variant of it (as im-) to the same base word and have a meaning positively opposite to that of the base word
2. Opposite of; contrary to — in adjectives formed from adjectives or participles and in nouns formed from nouns
3. Do the opposite of; reverse (a specified action); de- 1a, dis- 1a — in verbs formed from verbs
4. Deprive of; remove (a specified thing) from; remove — in verbs formed from nouns; release from; free from — in verbs formed from nouns; remove from; extract from; bring out of — in verbs formed from nouns; cause to cease to be — in verbs formed from nouns
5. Completely
(Prefix) Reverse of or absence of
1. Not; other than; reverse of; absence of
2. Of little or no consequence; unimportant; worthless
3. Lacking the usual especially positive characteristics of the thing specified