Dictionary entry

Privative (2)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Priv″a‐tive, n.

1. That of which the essence is the absence of something.

Blackness and darkness are indeed but privatives. Bacon.

2. (Logic) A term indicating the absence of any quality which might be naturally or rationally expected; — called also privative term.

3. (Gram.) A privative prefix or suffix. See Privative, a., 3.