(Romance languages) relating to or denoting a part of a whole or a quantity that is less than the whole; "a partitive construction"
a word which comes before a noun and shows that only part of something is being described, for example the word 'some' in the phrase 'some of the cake'
word (such a `some' or `less') that is used to indicate a part as distinct from a whole
word (such a `some' or `less') that is used to indicate a part as distinct from a whole serving to separate or divide into parts; "partitive tendencies in education"; "the uniting influence was stronger than the separative"
: noun case used to indicate that an object is affected only partially by the verb, or that the effect is not real. It often corresponds roughly to the English words "some" or "any." It is similar in many ways to the genitive case. Some languages that make use of the partitive case include Finnish, Estonian, and Russian