ablative

adj

1. (not-comparable)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.
2. (archaic, not-comparable)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.”

3. (not-comparable)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.”

4. (not-comparable)Relating to the removal of a body part, tumor, or organ.
5. (not-comparable)Relating to the erosion of a land mass; relating to the melting or evaporation of a glacier.

noun

1. The ablative case.
2. An ablative material.