Additive dictionary definition | additive defined

additive

[ad′ə tiv]

Use additive in a sentence

adjective

showing or relating to addition
to be added

Origin of additive

Late Latin additivus: see add

noun

a substance added to another in small quantities to produce a desired effect, as a preservative added to food or an antiknock added to gasoline

additive

noun

A substance added in small amounts to something else to improve, strengthen, or otherwise alter it.

adjective

Marked by, produced by, or involving addition.
Of or being any of certain primary colors of wavelengths that may be mixed with one another to produce other colors. See Table at color.

Related Forms:

ad′di·tive·ly
adverb

ad′di·tiv′i·ty
noun

additive

Adjective

(comparative more additive, superlative most additive)

(mathematics) Pertaining to addition; that can be, or has been, added.
(mathematics, of a function, etc.) Distributive over addition.
Matrix multiplication is additive in that .
(algebra) Having addition as an operator.
It is natural to look at a finite cyclic group as an additive group.
(chemistry) Pertaining to chemical addition.
(genetics) Describing genes (the interaction etc. of such genes) which govern the same trait and whose effects work together on the phenotype.

Antonyms

subtractive

Noun

(plural additives)

A substance added to another substance or product for its ability to alter its properties.
Oil may be used as an additive in gasoline to improve the lubrication of a small engine.
(grammar) A word or phrase that adds something, such as also, even, or nor.

Origin

From Late Latin additivus, from the participial stem of Latin addere (“to add”).

$M\vec v+M\vec w=M(\vec v+\vec w)$

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Sentence Examples

The E numbers are helpful to these people because they can easily see whether the food contains an additive to which they are allergic.
A NAFTA ruling last year requiring Canada to accept a new additive in gasoline is another.
New color and additive masterbatches are introduced for plastics processors.
Additive bilingualism is becoming a reality through the highly successful development of Gaelic medium education throughout Scotland.
The additive inverse of any number is a unique number.

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The behavior of two individuals, consisting of effort which results in output, is considered to be determined by a satisfaction function which depends on remuneration (receiving part of the output) and on the effort expended. The total output of the two individuals is not additive, that is, together they produce in general more than separately. Each individual behaves in a way which he considers will maximize his satisfaction function. Conditions are deduced for a certain relative equilibrium and for the stability of this equilibrium, i.e., conditions under which it will not “pay” the individual to decrease his efforts. In the absence of such conditions "exploitation" occurs which may or may not lead to total parasitism. Anatol Rapoport