minus vs privative

minus

adj
  • Being a negative quantity; pertaining to a deficit or reduction. 

  • That is below zero by (a specified amount) on a scale. 

  • Ranking just below (a designated rating). 

noun
  • The minus sign (−). 

  • A negative quantity. 

  • A downside or disadvantage. 

prep
  • Made less or reduced by (followed by an expression of number or quantity). 

  • Without; deprived of. 

verb
  • To subtract. 

privative

adj
  • consisting in the absence of something; negative 

  • causing privation; depriving 

  • indicating the absence of something 

noun
  • something that causes privation or indicates an absence 

How often have the words minus and privative occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )