Noun

1. In Semitic languages, the “adjective of superiority.” In some languages such as Arabic, the concepts of comparative and superlative degree of an adjective are merged into a single form, the elative. How this form is understood or translated depends upon context and definiteness. In the absence of comparison, the elative conveys the notion of “greatest”, “supreme.”

   The elative of (kabí:r, "big") is (’ákbar, “bigger/biggest”, “greater/greatest”).

2. In Finno-Ugric languages, one of the locative cases. The elative case is a noun case that expresses “out of,” as in Finnish talosta, Hungarian házból (“out of the house”). Its opposite is the illative case (“into”).

See also

• absolute
• comparative
• elative case
• superlative
• three degrees of comparison