positive feedback

noun

A feedback loop in which the output of a system is amplified with a net positive gain and added to the input signal before the main amplifier.

Similar
regenerative feedbackregeneration
Opposite
negative feedback
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Meanings

nounpositive feedback (uncountable)
  1. A situation where some function of the output of a system, process, or mechanism is fed back in a manner that tends to increase any divergence of the output from its initial value.
    1. uncountablenatural sciencesA feedback loop in which the output of a system is amplified with a net positive gain and added to the input signal before the main amplifier.

      Synonyms: regenerative feedback · Antonyms: negative feedback

    2. figurativelyuncountableFeedback which builds upon previous feedback.

      The decision to include wild cereals in the collection may have been initially a random act of gathering, but once that decision had been made it triggered a runaway system of positive feedback in which the entire culture was transformed.

      1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 131

      Synonyms: regenerative feedback · Antonyms: negative feedback

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA feedback loop in which the output of a system is amplified with a net positive gain and added to the input signal before the main amplifier.

Similar
regenerative feedback
Opposite
negative feedback

nounFeedback which builds upon previous feedback.

Similar
regenerative feedback
Opposite
negative feedback

More synonyms by meaning

nounfeedback in phase with (augmenting) the input

Similar
regeneration
Broader
feedback
Also see
regenerationregenerative feedback

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 正反饋 /正反馈
  • 正反饋 /正反馈 (zhèngfǎnkuì)a feedback loop
Polish dodatnie sprzężenie zwrotne
  • dodatnie sprzężenie zwrotnea feedback loop
Romanian reacție pozitivă
  • reacție pozitivăa feedback loop
Russian положи́тельная обра́тная связь
  • положи́тельная обра́тная связь (položítelʹnaja obrátnaja svjazʹ)a feedback loop
Slovak kladná spätná väzba, pozítívna spätná väzba
  • kladná spätná väzbaa feedback loop
  • pozítívna spätná väzbaa feedback loop
Cite this entry
APA

positive feedback. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/positive%20feedback

MLA

“positive feedback.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/positive%20feedback. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “positive feedback,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/positive%20feedback.

Source: positive feedback on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.