Definition of "affirmative" []

• Asserting that something is true or correct, as with the answer "yes”: an affirmative reply. (adjective)
• Giving assent or approval; confirming: an affirmative vote. (adjective)
• Positive; optimistic: an affirmative outlook. (adjective)
• Logic Of, relating to, or being a proposition in which the predicate affirms something about the subject, such as the statement apples have seeds. (adjective)
• A word or statement of agreement or assent, such as the word yes. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Since the term "affirmative action" was first used in Executive Order 10925, signed by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, the word and the idea behind it has sparked debate -- which still continues today."
• "Over the last decade, the term "affirmative action" has become more controversial than the actual racial and gender inequities it was originally designed to address."
• "Increasingly over the years, and compounded in the Bush Administration, the term affirmative action has been demonized."