2 entries under this word
(110), a. [Lat. privativus, It. & Sp. privativo, Fr. privatif. See PRIVATE.]
The very privative blessings, blessings of immunity, safeguard, and integrity, which we all enjoy, deserve the thanksgiving of a whole life. Bp. Taylor.
n. 1. That which derives its character from, or of which the essence is, the absence of something.
Blackness and darkness are indeed but privatives, and therefore have little or no activity. BACON.
Sense 2. (Logic.) A term indicating the absence of any quality which might be naturally or rationally expected; — called also privative term.
Sense 3. (Gram.) A prefix to a word which changes its signification and gives it a contrary sense, as a in Greek; ἄδικος, unjust, from a and δίκη; un and in in English; as, unwise, inhuman. The word may also be applied to suffixes, as less in harmless.