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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

relative.

Connected to or depending on something else; comparative.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv//rɪˈleː.ʈɪʋ/India
  1. Connected to or depending on something else; comparative.

    not-comparable
    We've been discussing the relative merits of various methods of transportation.
  2. Expressed in relation to another item, rather than in complete form.

    not-comparable
    The relative URL /images/pic.jpg, when evaluated in the context of http://example.com/index.html, corresponds to the absolute URL http://example.com/images/pic.jpg.
  3. Depending on an antecedent; comparative.

    not-comparable
    The words “big” and “small” are relative.
  4. Having the same key but differing in being major or minor.

    not-comparable
  5. Relevant; pertinent; related.

    archaic · not-comparable · rare
    relative to your earlier point about taxes, ...
  6. Capable to be changed by other beings or circumstance; conditional.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

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”). By surface analysis, relate + -ive.

noun/ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv//rɪˈleː.ʈɪʋ/India
  1. Someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption; someone in the same family.

  2. Something kindred or related to something else.

    figuratively
  3. A type of adjective that inflects like a relative clause, rather than a true adjective, in certain Bantu languages.

Where this word comes from

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”). By surface analysis, relate + -ive.

adv/ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv//rɪˈleː.ʈɪʋ/India
  1. Alternative form of relatively.

    US · alt-of · alternative · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

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”). By surface analysis, relate + -ive.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.