regexp and strings you don't want

[Chaz]

Hi,

I know that ^ at the start of [ ] excludes individual characters (or
ranges of characters) from a regular expression search, but is there
an equivalent to eliminate strings?  That is, how can I search for a
regular expression that does not include a specified string?

For example, how can I search for a paragraph beginning with "The"
that does NOT include the word "top"?

Thanks

Chaz