In the abstract, there can be connotations that can be interpreted negatively.

Inaccurate estimations of fetal age and inaccuracies inherent in ultrasonic examination may cause a scan to be interpreted negatively.

"The data we have had could have been interpreted negatively," Mr. Rothestein added, but it's a market that wants to go up.

Any reversal in the trend of lower interest rates is being interpreted negatively by the stock market.

Its basic insight is that everything - including God - can be positively or negatively interpreted and experienced.

"My sense is that in the Real Madrid world it would have been interpreted negatively," he added.

"Much of the data on moonlighting is interpreted negatively, but you have to look at it positively," says Audrey Freedman, an economist in New York.

Mr. Ebbers's reaction to the prosecutor's questions might be interpreted by the jury negatively and shows one danger in letting defendants take the stand.

Parsons publicly opposed these latter changes: he believed that this "could be interpreted negatively and as a purposeful effort to suppress material information."

This inscrutability may be interpreted positively or negatively.