ablative

1 of 2

adjective (1)

ab·​la·​tive ˈa-blə-tiv How to pronounce ablative (audio)
: of, relating to, or being a grammatical case (see case entry 1 sense 3a) that typically marks a person, place, or thing from which someone or something else is separated or the source from which someone or something comes, and is also frequently used to indicate the cause of an event or condition or the instrument by which an action is accomplished see also ablative absolute
ablative noun

ablative

2 of 2

adjective (2)

ab·​la·​tive a-ˈblā-tiv How to pronounce ablative (audio)
1
: of or relating to ablation
2
: tending to ablate
ablative material on a nose cone
ablatively adverb

Examples of ablative in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Adjective
Ahead of the demo, SpaceX engineers reworked the rocket's heatshield, replacing the entire thermal protection system with newer tiles and a backup ablative layer. Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 14 Oct. 2024 Fractional lasers can be ablative or non-ablative and are used primarily for cosmetic purposes such as treating age spots.7 What Is Skin Rejuvenation? Michelle Pugle, Verywell Health, 22 July 2024 The capsule, protected by ablative shielding, will perform a ballistic skip reentry, as performed during Chang’e-5, first bouncing off the atmosphere to kill some of the extra speed involved in lunar missions, before making a final, fiery plunge. IEEE Spectrum, 20 Mar. 2024 Those with Black skin should avoid mechanical exfoliants (i.e., grainy scrubs), irritating skin-care ingredients (such as alcohol, propylene glycol, and lanolin), Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treatments, and ablative lasers — all of which can cause light and dark spots. Julie Ricevuto, Allure, 22 Oct. 2020 But Greig points out that ablative arc mining wouldn’t look like the environmentally-harmful pit mines on Earth; the mining region could be spread out, making some craters only slightly deeper. Ramin Skibba, Wired, 22 Sep. 2021 Please find another way to pose your questions. God of a lack of abundance, ablative god, in the middle of a procession, in the middle of things god, your desires are showing. Alice Gribbin, The New York Review of Books, 2 Nov. 2023 In this case, there was still plenty of margin in the ablative material on Orion, meaning the unanticipated behavior seen in the heat shield posed no risk to the spacecraft. Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 8 Mar. 2023 To aid creative re-use of lunar resources, Greig and her colleagues propose a technology called ablative arc mining that would slurp up water ice and the kinds of metals that could be used as building materials. Ramin Skibba, Wired, 22 Sep. 2021

Word History

Etymology

Adjective (1)

Middle English ablatif, borrowed from Anglo-French or Latin; Anglo-French ablatif, borrowed from Latin ablātīvus, from ablātus, suppletive past participle of auferre "to carry away, remove" + -īvus -ive — more at ablate

Adjective (2)

ablate + -ive

First Known Use

Adjective (1)

circa 1500, in the meaning defined above

Adjective (2)

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of ablative was circa 1500

Dictionary Entries Near ablative

Cite this Entry

“Ablative.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ablative. Accessed 11 Dec. 2024.

Medical Definition

ablative

adjective
ab·​la·​tive a-ˈblā-tiv, ə- How to pronounce ablative (audio)
: relating to or involving surgical ablation
ablative treatment
ablative techniques
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!