[numbchuckskills]

Main Entry: hack·er Pronunciation: \ˈha-kər\ Function: noun Date: 14th century

1 : one that hacks 2 : a person who is inexperienced or unskilled at a particular activity <a tennis hacker> 3 : an expert at programming and solving problems with a computer 4 : a person who illegally gains access to and sometimes tampers with information in a computer system

Three out of four possible Merriam-Webster definitions are negative.

[awa]

Only the 4th one seems negative to me... 1) is neutral (since hack has atleast 1 +ve meaning), is positive and 2) is as similar to inexperienced/unskilled whose connotation is context dependent(imho)