relative
English
Alternative forms
- rel. (abbreviation)
Etymology
From Middle French relatif, from Late Latin relātīvus, from Latin relātus, perfect passive participle of referō (“to carry back, to ascribe”), from re- (“again”) + ferō (“to bear or carry”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
relative (not comparable)
- Connected to or depending on something else; comparative.
- 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, BBC Sport:
- For Liverpool, their season will now be regarded as a relative disappointment after failure to add the FA Cup to the Carling Cup and not mounting a challenge to reach the Champions League places.
- 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, BBC Sport:
- (computing, of a URL, URI, path, or similar) Expressed in relation to another item, rather than in complete form.
- The relative URL /images/pic.jpg, when evaluated in the context of http://example.com/docs/pic.html, corresponds to the absolute URL http://example.com/images/pic.jpg.
- (grammar) That relates to an antecedent.
- (music) Having the same key but differing in being major or minor.
- Relevant; pertinent; related.
- relative to your earlier point about taxes, ...
- Capable to be changed by other beings or circumstance; conditional.
Synonyms
Derived terms
- relative to
Related terms
Translations
conditional; depending on something else
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Noun
relative (plural relatives)
- Someone in the same family; someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption.
- Why do my relatives always talk about sex?
- (linguistics) A type of adjective that inflects like a relative clause, rather than a true adjective, in certain Bantu languages.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:relative
Related terms
Translations
someone in the same family; someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption
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See also
Notes
- In General American and Canadian English, the flapped [ɾ] pronunciation [ˈɹɛl.ə.ɾɪv] is more common than the aspirated [tʰ] pronunciation [ˈɹɛl.ə.tʰɪv]; but in the derived adverb relatively, the aspirated pronunciation [ˈɹɛl.ə.tʰɪv.li] is more common, though the flap-t version can still be heard, especially in casual speech.
Danish
Esperanto
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʁə.la.tiv/
German
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Adjective
relative
- inflection of relativ:
- strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
- strong nominative/accusative plural
- weak nominative all-gender singular
- weak accusative feminine/neuter singular
Italian
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /re.laːˈtiː.weː/, [rɛ.ɫaːˈtiː.weː]
References
- rĕlātīvē in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- relative in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
- rĕlātīvē in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette, page 1,335/2
Etymology 2
A regularly declined form of relātīvus.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /re.laːˈtiː.we/, [rɛ.ɫaːˈtiː.wɛ]
Norwegian Bokmål
Norwegian Nynorsk
Swedish
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