What is "abessive case"

n. (context grammar English): case used to express the lack or absence of something. It has the meaning of the English preposition "without" or the affix ''-less''. Some languages that use the abessive case are Erzya, Estonian, Finnish, and Inari Sami.

In linguistics, abessive ( abbreviated or ), caritive and privative (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case expressing the lack or absence of the marked noun. In English, the corresponding function is expressed by the preposition without or by the suffix -less.

The name abessive is derived from Latin abesse "to be away/absent", and is especially used in reference to Uralic languages. The name caritive is derived from Latin carere "to lack", and is especially used in reference to Caucasian languages. The name privative is derived from Latin privare "to deprive".