ablative
n.n. a part of a language that shows how something moves away from a place or person. It is often used to describe a specific way of speaking or writing.
n. a grammatical case used to indicate motion away from a point or separation from a person or thing. It is a feature found in several classical and modern languages.
The student is studying the ablative case in Latin.
In many ancient languages, the ablative is used to show where an action is coming from or where something is moving away.
The transition from the ablative to the prepositional phrase marks a significant shift in the grammatical structure of the language over the last century.
From Middle English ablative, ablatife, ablatyf, ablatif, from Old French ablatif (“the ablative case”), from Latin ablātīvus (“expressing removal”), from ablātus (“taken away”), from auferō (“I take away”). The engineering/nautical sense originates from ablate + -ive.