What does double negative mean?

Question

if you've seen movies like rebound, then you would here people say "thats double negative" what does it mean?

Answer 1

"i didn't do nothing"

Ddidn't and nothing are both negatives - which cancel each other out, so it can end up being interpreted as "i did do something"

Answer 2

what everyone said above me is correct. double negatives are words that cancel each other out to form a positive sentence. i learned that last year. it got so annoying afterwards because i began noticing people saying that "but i didnt do NOTIN" when it should be "But i didnt do anything." it was just so stupid. because they didn't get it when i corrected them. i notice people on yahoo answers do double negatives all the time in their questions and answers. i ignore it right away because people will most likely give you a thumbs down.

Answer 3

Double negative, which I have came across when I studied Science and Math.

a negative number minus a negative number become a positive number. Something like this.

It means a double negative make a positive rule.

Similarly, I came across this word "Double Negative" when I learnt English, It means something that English is not appropriate use, got  two meanings. For eg. I cannot eat no fish.

There are also got triple negative, quadruple negative.

Answer 4

linguistically, it means you use a negative word twice.

"you aint got no answers to this question"

i think that would be a good example.

Answer 5

Usually considered a grammatical flaw, a double negative occurs when people use two denials but don't mean them to cancel out. That is, the Rolling Stones's "I can't get no satisfaction" is intended to mean "I cannot obtain satisfaction." Literally--and no one takes it so--it implies that I do obtain satisfaction, because I don't have none. The double negative is meant to be an intensifier; it is really pleonastic.

This is not to be confused with litotes, a rhetorical figure that is meant to express less than wholehearted agreement. "I am not unhappy with the result" doesn't quite mean that I am happy with the result--it's a New Englandish, reserved way of agreeing without wholly agreeing.