Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or being the grammatical case indicating motion out of a place in some languages, as in Finnish hotellista, “out of the hotel.”
  • noun The elative case.
  • noun A word or form in the elative case.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Gram.) Raised; lifted up; -- a term applied to what is also called the absolute superlative, denoting a high or intense degree of a quality, but not excluding the idea that an equal degree may exist in other cases.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun grammar In Semitic languages, the “adjective of superiority.” In some languages such as Arabic, the concepts of comparative and superlative degree of an adjective are merged into a single form, the elative. How this form is understood or translated depends upon context and definiteness. In the absence of comparison, the elative conveys the notion of “greatest”, “supreme.”
  • noun grammar In Finno-Ugric languages, one of the locative cases, expressing “out of,” as in Finnish talosta, Hungarian házból (“out of the house”). Its opposite is the illative case (“into”). In Finnish, the case form is used also to express "out of" or "proximity" in a figurative sense which in English is often conveyed by the word "about".

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin ēlātīvus : from Latin ēlātus, past participle of efferre, to bring out; see elate + –ive.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin elatus ("exalted, lofty, high") +‎ -ive

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin elatum, past participle of effero ("to carry out or away")

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Examples

  • Despite the elative precision of his writing it was nevertheless always the intangible spirit of something else in his work – something deeply sad, deeply mischevious, and intensely human – that most beguiled me.

    David Foster Wallace 2008

  • You know, like every single day, every single day, it's either a elative, a friend, you hear about somebody, you read the paper every day.

    CNN Transcript Oct 27, 2007 2007

  • 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.

    The Existence of God Fran��ois de Salignac de la Mothe- F��nelon 1683

  • [R] elative advantages of California (or disadvantages of the Midwest) loom large when a resident of one region considers the possibility of life in the other.

    Library of Economics and Liberty Bryan Caplan 2010

  • Unlike עליון, ὕψιστος is morphologically a superlative, which might be used in an elative sense ( 'very high'), but can also be taken as a true superlative, meaning 'the highest' in a series.

    Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth 2009

  • Integration of Electroless SiNWs: Fabrication of SiNWs via electroless etching SiNWs deposition on lithographically patterned electrodes Thermal annealing to form self-aligned NiSi contacts Electrical measurement Advantages over conventional approach: Low cost compared to VLS L arge scale fabrication R elative simple silicidation process Low process temperatu re Enables FET/nanowire sensor fabrication.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows pinkfans5 2009

  • Act i-elative to care of indigent and neglected children.

    Acts and resolves passed by the General Court 1663

  • The provisions of law i-elative to tender, offer of judgment, set-off and recoupment shall apply to such petition, and the case shall be tried by the court without a jury and, if the amount claimed is more than ten thousand dollars, by three justices of said court.

    Acts and resolves passed by the General Court 1663

  • Worcester, officers, appointment of. ies estab - elative to

    Acts and resolves passed by the General Court 1663

  • Worcester, officers, appointment of. ies estab - elative to

    Acts and resolves passed by the General Court 1663

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