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not
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As an adverb, not means negates the meaning of the modified verb. As a conjunction, it means and not.
Meanings of not
6 meaningsadverb
Negates the meaning of the modified verb.
“‘Do they know?’ ‘I believe not’ (formal)”
“Did you take out the trash? No, I did not.”
To no degree.
“That is not red; it's green.”
“It's not you, it's me.”
understatementlitotesUsed to indicate the opposite or near opposite, often in a form of understatement.
“That day was not the best day of my life. (meaning the day was bad or awful)”
“It was not my favorite movie of all time. (meaning the speaker dislikes or strongly dislikes the movie)”
Negation of a word or group of words
“he does not speak French”
“she is not going”
“they are not friends”
Similar: non
conjunction
And not.
“I wanted a plate of shrimp, not a bucket of chicken.”
“He painted the car blue and black, not solid purple.”
interjection
slangUsed to indicate that the previous phrase was meant sarcastically or ironically.
“I really like hanging out with my little brother watching Barney … not!”
“Sure, you’re perfect the way you are … not!”
noun
Alternative letter-case form of NOT
Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).