elative

[ ee-luh-tiv, el-uh- ]

adjective

1. noting a case, as in Finnish, whose function is to indicate motion out of or away from.

noun

1. an elative case.
2. an adjectival form, as in Arabic, denoting intensity or superiority, approximately equivalent to the comparative and superlative of other languages.

elative

/ ˈiːlətɪv /

adjective

1. (in the grammar of Finnish and other languages) denoting a case of nouns expressing a relation of motion or direction, usually translated by the English prepositions out of or away from Compare illative

noun

1. 1. the elative case
   2. an elative word or speech element

Word History and Origins

Origin of elative¹

1585–95; < Latin ēlāt ( us ) ( elate ) + -ive

Word History and Origins

Origin of elative¹

C19: from Latin ēlātus, past participle of efferre to carry out; see elate

Example Sentences

She faithfully records its wood-notes wild; "The elative d�dazzling, delicious, devastating, divine; and the deflative b�beastly, bloody, boring, the bottom."

From Time Magazine Archive

The upshot of the merit and demerit of human actions rests upon this basis, that nothing is so much in the power of our will as our will itself, and that we have this free-will—this, as it were, two-edged faculty—and this elative power between two counsels which are immediately, as it were, within our reach. 

From Project Gutenberg