additive

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈadɪtɪv/
• (US) IPA: /ˈæɾətɪv/, /ˈæɾəɾɪv/

Adjective

additive (comparative more additive, superlative most additive)

1. (mathematics) Pertaining to addition; that can be, or has been, added.
2. (mathematics, of a function, etc.) Distributive over addition.

   Matrix multiplication is additive in that $M\vec v+M\vec w=M(\vec v+\vec w)$.

3. (algebra) Having addition as an operator.

   It is natural to look at a finite cyclic group as an additive group.

4. (chemistry) Pertaining to chemical addition.
5. (genetics) Describing genes (or the interaction etc. of such genes) which govern the same trait and whose effects work together on the phenotype.

Antonyms

• subtractive

Derived terms

• additive function
• additive inverse
• additive identity
• additive group
• additive color

Noun

additive (plural additives)

1. 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.

Translations

substance altering another substance

Bulgarian: добавка (bg) Estonian: lisaaine (et) Finnish: lisäaine (fi) French: additif (fr) German: Zusatzstoff m., Zusatz m., Additiv n.

Hungarian: adalék (hu) Serbo-Croatian: aditiv (sh), dodatak (sh), primjesa (sh), pridodatak (sh) Spanish: aditivo (es) m. Swedish: tillsats (sv) c.

External links

• additive in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• additive in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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Italian

Adjective

additive f.

1. feminine plural form of additivo