Definitions for relative
ˈrɛl ə tɪvrel·a·tive

Princeton's WordNet(2.50 / 4 votes)Rate this definition:

1. relative, relation(noun)

   a person related by blood or marriage

   "police are searching for relatives of the deceased"; "he has distant relations back in New Jersey"

2. relative, congener, congenator, congeneric(adj)

   an animal or plant that bears a relationship to another (as related by common descent or by membership in the same genus)

3. relative, comparative(adj)

   estimated by comparison; not absolute or complete

   "a relative stranger"

4. proportional, relative(adj)

   properly related in size or degree or other measurable characteristics; usually followed by `to'

   "the punishment ought to be proportional to the crime"; "earnings relative to production"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. relative(Noun)

   Someone in the same family; someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption.

2. relative(Adjective)

   Relevant; pertinent

3. relative(Adjective)

   Connected to or depending on something else; not absolute; comparative.

4. relative(Adjective)

   That relates to an antecedent

5. relative(Adjective)

   Having the same key but differing in being major or minor

Origin: From relativus, from relatus, perfect passive participle of refero, from re- + fero

Webster Dictionary(4.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Relative(adj)

   having relation or reference; referring; respecting; standing in connection; pertaining; as, arguments not relative to the subject

2. Relative(adj)

   arising from relation; resulting from connection with, or reference to, something else; not absolute

3. Relative(adj)

   indicating or expressing relation; refering to an antecedent; as, a relative pronoun

4. Relative(adj)

   characterizing or pertaining to chords and keys, which, by reason of the identify of some of their tones, admit of a natural transition from one to the other

5. Relative(noun)

   one who, or that which, relates to, or is considered in its relation to, something else; a relative object or term; one of two object or term; one of two objects directly connected by any relation

6. Relative(noun)

   a person connected by blood or affinity; strictly, one allied by blood; a relation; a kinsman or kinswoman

7. Relative(noun)

   a relative pronoun; a word which relates to, or represents, another word or phrase, called its antecedent; as, the relatives "who", "which", "that"

Origin: [F. relatif, L. relativus. See Relate.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Relative

   rel′a-tiv, adj. having relation: respecting: not absolute or existing by itself: considered as belonging to something else: (gram.) expressing relation.—n. that which has relation to something else: a relation: (gram.) a pronoun which relates to something before, called its antecedent.—adj. Relatī′val (or Rel′atival).—adv. Rel′atively.—ns. Rel′ativeness, Relativ′ity.—Relativity of human knowledge, the doctrine that the nature and extent of our knowledge is determined not merely by the qualities of the objects known, but necessarily by the conditions of our cognitive powers.

The Standard Electrical Dictionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Relative

   Indicating the relation between two or more things without reference to absolute value of any one of them. Thus one lamp may be of relatively double resistance compared to another, but this states nothing of the resistance in ohms of either lamp.

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. relative

   The bearing of a target measured in the horizontal from the bow of one

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'relative' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #2553

2. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'relative' in Nouns Frequency: #1223

3. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'relative' in Adjectives Frequency: #342

Anagrams for relative »

1. levirate

How to pronounce relative?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say relative in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of relative in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of relative in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of relative in a Sentence

1. Neha Shresha:

   I'll probably call a relative.

2. Professor Levin:

   It is not Yellowstone-like, but it’s a distant relative.

3. William Ralph Inge:

   The wise man is he who knows the relative value of things.

4. Matshona Dhliwayo:

   Help from a stranger is better than sympathy from a relative.

5. Vikrant Parsai:

   Marry a relative! If it goes wrong, it is at least in the family.

Images & Illustrations of relative

Popularity rank by frequency of use