privative adjective

English

Noun

privative adjective (plural privative adjectives)

  1. (grammar) An adjective indicating that a noun refers to an object that is not of the class which that noun ordinarily refers to.
    Hypernyms: adjective < word < term
    That's fake news.
    (literally, “That is not news.”)
    Isn't that a toy sword?
    (literally, “That is not a genuine sword.”)
  2. (grammar) An adjective indicating that a noun lacks some other noun, or a quality of that noun; usually formed in English by the affixation of the suffix -less or suffixoid -free to the noun that is absent.
    Antonym: possessional adjective
    Hypernyms: adjective < word < term
    ‎finger + ‎-less → ‎fingerless
    ‎hope + ‎-less → ‎hopeless
    ‎heart + ‎-less → ‎heartless
    ‎sugar + ‎-free → ‎sugar-free

Translations

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.