# ablative

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈæb.lə.tɪv/ · frequency rank #65,664

## Definitions
1. Applied to one of the cases of the noun in some languages, the fundamental meaning of the case being removal, separation, or taking away, and to a lesser degree, instrument, place, accordance, specifications, price, or measurement.
2. Pertaining to taking away or removing.
3. Sacrificial, wearing away or being destroyed in order to protect the underlying material, as in ablative paints used for antifouling, or ablative heat shields used to protect spacecraft during reentry. .
4. Relating to the removal of a body part, tumor, or organ.
5. Relating to the erosion of a land mass; relating to the melting or evaporation of a glacier.

## Etymology
From Middle English ablative, ablatife, ablatyf, ablatif, from Old French ablatif (“the ablative case”), from Latin ablātīvus (“expressing removal”), from ablātus (“taken away”), from auferō (“I take away”). The engineering/nautical sense originates from ablate + -ive.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/ablative