privative adjective
noun1
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences An adjective used to show that a noun refers to something outside the category that the noun normally represents.
- That's fake news.
- Isn't that a toy sword?
2
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences 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.
- finger + -less → fingerless
- hope + -less → hopeless
2 more examples
- heart + -less → heartless
- sugar + -free → sugar-free
- Related terms
- alpha privative, alpha privativum, deprivation, privation, privative a