subtractive
[suh b-trak-tiv]
- tending to subtract; having power to subtract.
- Mathematics. (of a quantity) that is to be subtracted; having the minus sign (−).
Show More
Origin of subtractive
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for subtractive
Historical Examples
These quantities are additive for years after 1800, and subtractive for years before that epoch.
AstrologySepharial
The first number should be additive, the second subtractive, etc.
Visual SignalingSignal Corps United States Army
The colors produced by adding lights are based not on the "subtractive" method but on the actual addition of colors.
Artificial LightM. Luckiesh
These primaries are red, green, and blue and it will be noted that they are the complementaries of the "subtractive" primaries.
Artificial LightM. Luckiesh
The additive and subtractive methods are chiefly involved, but there is another method which is an "averaging" additive one.
Artificial LightM. Luckiesh
subtractive
- able or tending to remove or subtract
- indicating or requiring subtraction; having a minus sign–x is a subtractive quantity
Show More
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
subtractive
[səb-trăk′tĭv]
- Relating to the production of color by the blocking or removal of varying wavelengths, as with colored filters, or by the mixing of pigments that absorb certain wavelengths and reflect others.♦ The subtractive primaries cyan, magenta, and yellow are those colors whose wavelengths can be filtered or absorbed in different proportions to produce all other colors. Compare additive. See Note at color.
- Marked by or involving subtraction.
Show More
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.