English Explanatory Dictionary

ablative

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Applied to one of the cases of the noun in some languages, the fundamental meaning of the case being removal, separation, or taking away, and to a lesser degree, instrument, place, accordance, specifications, price, or measurement.
  2. Pertaining to taking away or removing.
  3. Sacrificial, wearing away or being destroyed in order to protect the underlying material, as in ablative paints used for antifouling, or ablative heat shields used to protect spacecraft during reentry. .
  4. Relating to the removal of a body part, tumor, or organ.
  5. Relating to the erosion of a land mass; relating to the melting or evaporation of a glacier.
noun
  1. The ablative case.
  2. An ablative material.

Pronunciation

/ˈæb.lə.tɪv/ /əˈbleɪ.tɪv/ en-us-ablative.ogg en-ca-ablative.ogg

Word forms

ablative abl. ablatives

Etymology

From Middle English ablative, ablatife, ablatyf, ablatif, from Old French ablatif (“the ablative case”), from Latin ablātīvus (“expressing removal”), from ablātus (“taken away”), from auferō (“to take away”). The engineering/nautical sense originates from ablate + -ive.

Derived words

ablatival ablatively ablativeness ablativity atheroablative cryoablative cytoablative immunoablative locoablative lymphoablative myeloablative neuroablative non-ablative nonablative periablative phosphoablative postablative ablative absolute loose ablative partitive ablative partitive dative partitive genitive
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