Definition of "ablative"

(grammar) 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.  examples

(archaic) Pertaining to taking away or removing.  quotations

(engineering, nautical, astronautics) 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.  quotations  examples

(medicine) Relating to the removal of a body part, tumor, or organ.  examples

(geology) Relating to the erosion of a land mass; relating to the melting or evaporation of a glacier.

(grammar) The ablative case.  examples

An ablative material.  examples