ablative /ˈæb.lə.tɪv/adjective 5noun 2forms 1 adjective5 •Relating to the removal of a body part, tumor, or organ. •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. •Relating to the erosion of a land mass; relating to the melting or evaporation of a glacier. •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. .The inner layer of warship protection consists of ablative armor plate designed to "boil away" when heated. The vaporized armor material scatters a DEW beam, rendering it ineffectual. — 2008 •(no longer used) Pertaining to taking away or removing.Where the heart is forestalled with misopinion, ablative directions are found needful to unteach error, ere we can learn truth. — 1622 noun2 •The ablative case. •An ablative material. formsablatives
