privative
Americanadjective
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causing, or tending to cause, deprivation.
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consisting in or characterized by the taking away, loss, or lack of something.
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Grammar. indicating negation or absence.
noun
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Grammar. a privative element, as a- in asymmetric.
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something that is deprived.
adjective
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causing privation
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expressing lack or negation, as for example the English suffix -less and prefix un-
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obsolete logic (of a proposition) that predicates a logical privation
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of privative
1350–1400; Middle English privatif < Latin prīvātīvus. See private, -ive
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But Dr Bhar, a cosmetic surgeon who runs a privative clinic in Harley Street London, disagrees with the ban.
From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2022
As has been shown in the first chapter, every thought is made up of a positive and a privative, and it is absurd and unnatural to separate the one from the other.
From The Religious Sentiment Its Source and Aim: A Contribution to the Science and Philosophy of Religion by Daniel Garrison Brinton
Strictly speaking, desire, as a conscious fact, has in it always a negative aspect, a privative aspect,—we desire when we are incomplete, when we lack.
From Social Value A Study in Economic Theory Critical and Constructive by Benjamin M. (Benjamin McAlester) Anderson
Bopp’s suggestion that the Sanscrit augment was originally a privative finds support in this analogy.
From The Philosophic Grammar of American Languages, as Set Forth by Wilhelm von Humboldt With the Translation of an Unpublished Memoir by Him on the American Verb by Daniel Garrison Brinton
The evil in matter is due to its negative or privative aspect as the formless, which makes it the cause of defect and evil.
From A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy by Isaac Husik
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
