privative adjective

plural privative adjectives

1. grammarAn adjective used to show that a noun refers to something outside the category that the noun normally represents.

   That's fake news.

   1 more example

   Isn't that a toy sword?

2. grammarAn adjective indicating that a noun lacks some other noun, or a quality of that noun; usually formed in English by the affixation of the suffix -less or suffixoid -free to the noun that is absent.

   hope + -less → hopeless

   3 more examples

   finger + -less → fingerless

   heart + -less → heartless

   sugar + -free → sugar-free

   Antonyms: possessional adjective