The Collaborative International Dictionary
privative term
Privative \Priv"a*tive\, n.
-
That of which the essence is the absence of something.
Blackness and darkness are indeed but privatives.
--Bacon. (Logic) A term indicating the absence of any quality which might be naturally or rationally expected; -- called also privative term.
(Gram.) A privative prefix or suffix. See Privative, a., 3.