additive
adjective
ad·di·tive
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Definition of additive
(Entry 1 of 2)
1
: of, relating to, or characterized by addition
an additive process
2
: produced by addition
3
: characterized by, being, or producing effects (such as drug responses or gene products) that when the causative factors act together are the sum of their individual effects
additive
nounDefinition of additive (Entry 2 of 2)
: a substance added to another in relatively small amounts to effect a desired change in properties
food additives
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Other Words from additive
Adjective
additively
adverb
additivity
\ ˌa-də-ˈti-və-tē
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noun
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noun
Synonyms for additive
Synonyms: Adjective
accretive, accumulative, conglomerative, cumulative, incremental
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Examples of additive in a Sentence
Adjective
certain drugs have additive effects when taken in conjunction with each other that one doesn't see when any one is used aloneNoun
a gasoline additive to reduce pollutionRecent Examples on the Web: Adjective
From the tour alone, visitors will be better prepared to identify gelato imposters: artificially flavored or additive-infused to make the product look better or last longer. — Naomi Tomky, Fortune, "How to Get a Degree in Gelato," 22 June 2019 This savings is additive, with a theoretical heavy Thunderbolt user with four active devices connected saving as much as 1.2W in total. — Jim Salter, Ars Technica, "Intel reveals final details on Ice Lake mobile CPUs," 2 Aug. 2019 These submissions can take the form of new dietary ingredient notifications or food additive petitions, which would include toxicity studies to evaluate the safety of CBD. — Scott Gottlieb, chicagotribune.com, "Former FDA commissioner: CBD craze is getting out of hand," 2 Aug. 2019 The specific question this research was looking at was whether nudges could be additive. — John Timmer, Ars Technica, "Small nudges add up to big electric savings," 15 Aug. 2018 But the risk is that this combination of exacting precision and stark moralism can be subtractive rather than additive. — Matthew Yglesias, Vox, "Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign and policy positions, explained," 26 June 2019 Still, Comley believes that capturing performances for later viewing is additive to the business and will become standard procedure in the marketing toolkit for a show, just like the audio cast recording of a musical. — Edward Baig, USA TODAY, "Can't make it to the theater? BroadwayHD.com lets you stream Broadway instead," 6 June 2019 To be a group, those additive relationships have to satisfy certain axioms. — Kevin Hartnett, Quanta Magazine, "New Number Systems Seek Their Lost Primes," 2 Mar. 2017 One involves the use of 3D printing—an additive process involving plastic threads. — Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica, "3D-printed (and CNC-milled) guns: Nine questions you were too afraid to ask," 5 Aug. 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
Various forms of barium are used as a stabilizing additive to fracking fluids, and companies including the oil field services firm Halliburton testified that using alternative products would decrease drilling productivity. — Lydia Depillis, ProPublica, "Bibles but Not Textbooks: Trump’s Tariff Exemptions Pick Winners and Losers," 22 Aug. 2019 Researchers from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology analyzed 194 plastic fragments collected from seabird guts finding additives, including UV stabilizers and flame retardants, accumulated in the birds’ soft tissue. — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, "Eating Even One Piece of Plastic Has Health Consequences for Baby Seabirds," 5 Aug. 2019 That development process got a boost Wednesday from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which approved one of the company's key ingredients — soy leghemoglobin — as a color additive. — Dee-ann Durbin, orlandosentinel.com, "Impossible Burger heading to grocery stores as company expands," 30 July 2019 China is the major source of fentanyl, which is used as an additive in street drugs. — Carla K. Johnson, The Seattle Times, "Q&A: Feds tackle opioid epidemic, but is it helping?," 28 Jan. 2019 According to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, color additives must be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before they are used in cosmetic products, including hair dye. — Audrey Noble, Harper's BAZAAR, "Organic Hair Dye Is a Myth—But You Can Still Find Clean Hair Color," 19 June 2019 And yes, technically, these offerings fall under the frozen meals category but Drori sources ingredients from organic farms (Amber Waves is among the suppliers) and there are no additives—just real, really good food. — Lilah Ramzi, Vogue, "Athena Calderone Set the Chicest Table for the Daily Harvest x Amber Waves Farm Dinner," 15 July 2019 Going hand-in-hand with his numbers would be additives to his narrative. — Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Is Christian Yelich on track to be a Hall of Famer? Let's break down where he's headed and what he'd still have to do," 28 June 2019 Ractopamine is a veterinary drug and feed additive which is banned in mainland China due to concerns over the possible negative effects on consumer health, according to the Hong Kong Center for Food Safety. — Ben Westcott, CNN, "China bans all meat from Canada alleging forged customs certificates," 26 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'additive.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for additive
additive
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of additive
: something (such as a chemical) that is added in small amounts to a substance to improve it in some way
See the full definition for additive in the English Language Learners Dictionary
additive
noun
ad·di·tive
| \ ˈa-də-tiv
\
\
Kids Definition of additive
: a substance added to another in small amounts
The gasoline additive improves engine performance.
additive
adjective
ad·di·tive
| \ ˈad-ət-iv
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Medical Definition of additive
(Entry 1 of 2)
: having or relating to a value or effect that is the sum of individual values or effects: as
a
: relating to the sum of the pharmacological responses produced by the concurrent administration of two or more drugs capable of producing the same kind of effect
b
: having a genetic effect that is the sum of the individual effects