Word.ws English Dictionary

deletive

deletive adjective: tending to delete or destroy.

Adjective

deletive (comparative more deletive, superlative most deletive)

  1. (uncommon) Tending to delete or destroy.
    • lexical deletive rules
    • [T]he obtuſer end [of a style] vvas made more deletive, apt to put out, and obliterate, vvhen they vvould Stylum vertere [turn the style], vvhich our Burniſher (another Tool us'd by Chalcographers) and Poliſher performes.1662, J[ohn] Evelyn, “Of Sculpture, how Deriv’d, and Distinguish’d, with the Styles, and Instruments Belonging to It”, in Sculptura: Or The History, and Art of Chalcography and Engraving in Copper....

Forms of deletive

comparativemore deletive
superlativemost deletive

Origin of deletive

from delete + -ive.

Questions about deletive

What does deletive mean?
Deletive means tending to delete or destroy.
What part of speech is deletive?
Deletive is an adjective.

Words near deletive in the dictionary

  1. deletional
  2. deletionism
  3. deletionist
  4. deletionists
  5. deletions
  6. deletive
  7. deletogenic
  8. deletories
  9. deletorious
  10. deletory
  11. Deleuze

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: deletive (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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