这里的“negative”其实是否定的意思。

在通用情况下，“negative covenant”指该合同或条款要求一方当事人不得从事某些行为。尤指不动产筹资中，借方向贷方允诺，在贷款未还清前，不对不动产设置负担或进行转让；２指僱佣或商业买卖合同中，禁止僱员或出卖人在同一地区或市场进行竞争的条款，这种禁止在期限和范围方面都必须是合理的。 这一词通常可以译为“禁止合同”、“禁止条款”、“否定条款”或“反向约定”。

具体到债券、票据中，规定固定收益债券发行人和持有人所有权利和义务的合约被称为债券契约(Bond Indenture)。债券合约规定(Covenant)分为肯定条款(Affirmative Covenant)和否定条款(Negative Covenant)。否定条款即发行人应避免发生的事，而肯定性条款则为发行人承诺应做的事。

其英文释义如下：

A negative covenant is a bond covenant preventing certain activities unless agreed to by the bondholders. Negative covenants are written directly into the trust indenture creating the bond issue, are legally binding on the issuer, and exist to protect the best interests of the bondholders.

以下为协议中的具体示例，供参考：

Negative Covenants. The Warrantors hereby covenant and agree with the Purchaser that, so long as any obligation of any Warrantor under this Agreement or the Note remains un-fulfilled, each of the Warrantors shall not carry out the following acts without the prior written approval of the Purchaser (provided that no such consent shall be needed for the taking of such actions solely as are required to be taken by the Company based on the terms of this Agreement)

(i)any action to authorize, create, reclassify or issue any equity or equity-linked securities of any Group Company except for the issuance of Conversion Shares to the Purchaser and the issuance of additional shares to the existing investor shareholders of the Group Companies based on the pre-emptive rights granted under the existing shareholders agreement during or following the Investment;

(ii)any amendment to the memorandum and articles of association or other charter documents of the Company; any merger or consolidation of any Group Company with or into any other business entity;

反向约定。保证人特此向买方承诺和约定，只要任何保证人在本协议或票据项下的任何义务仍未履行，未经买方事先书面批准（但依照本协议条款仅需要公司采取此类行动的无需获得此类同意），所有保证人不得实施以下行为：

(i) 授权、创造、发行任何集团公司的任何权益性证券或股权挂钩型证券或将其重新分类，但向买方发行转换股份以及在投资期间或之后基于依照现有股东协议授予的优先认购权向集团公司现有的投资股东发行新增股份除外；

(ii) 修订公司的组织章程大纲和细则或其他章程文件；

(iii) 任何集团公司与其他商业实体合并或整合，或并入其他商业实体；