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Negative Prompt

An instruction that tells the model what to avoid or exclude in its output.

Full Definition

A negative prompt explicitly lists undesired content, styles, topics, or formats, complementing the positive instructions in a prompt. In image generation (Stable Diffusion, Midjourney), negative prompts directly subtract visual concepts from the output. In text, they are expressed as 'do not include', 'avoid', or 'exclude' clauses. Negative prompts are most useful when a model consistently adds unwanted elements — disclaimers, hedging language, specific topics — that positive instructions alone have not eliminated. They work best when specific rather than generic: 'do not include citations' outperforms 'keep it clean'.

Examples

1

Stable Diffusion prompt: 'a mountain landscape at sunset — negative: people, buildings, cables, overexposed sky'.

2

Text prompt: 'Explain quantum entanglement to a 10-year-old. Do not use the words 'particle', 'wave', or 'physics'.'

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Related Terms

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Directly telling the model what to do using clear imperative commands.

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Output Format

Specifying the exact structure, length, or schema the model should use when resp

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Guardrails

Programmatic constraints that prevent an AI application from producing or acting

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