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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Privative

Privative \Priv"a*tive\, a. [L. privativus: cf. F. privatif. See Private.]

  1. Causing privation; depriving.

  2. Consisting in the absence of something; not positive; negative.

    Privative blessings, blessings of immunity, safeguard, liberty, and integrity.
    --Jer. Taylor.

  3. (Gram.) Implying privation or negation; giving a negative force to a word; as, alpha privative; privative particles; -- applied to such prefixes and suffixes as a- (Gr. ?), un-, non-, -less.

Privative

Privative \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.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
privative

1580s, "expressing negation" (as do the prefixes un-, a- (2), etc.), from Latin privativus "denoting privation, negative," from privatus, past participle of privare (see private).

Wiktionary
privative

a. 1 Causing privation; depriving. 2 Consisting in the absence of something; negative. 3 (context grammar English) Indicating the absence of something. n. Something that causes privation or indicates an absence.

WordNet
Wikipedia
Privative

A privative, named from Latin privare, "to deprive", is a particle that negates or inverts the value of the stem of the word. In Indo-European languages many privatives are prefixes; but they can also be suffixes, or more independent elements.

Usage examples of "privative".

Moreover, as regards the order of the formal cause, positive effects are naturally prior to privative effects, though according to the order of the material cause, the reverse is the case: for a form does not exclude privation save by informing the subject.

According to Wachter it means, unstained, from the privative a, and malo a stain.

Without privatives, we would end up talking like the pod people from the Planet Zog.