DERIVATIVE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Derivative

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/dərˈɪvətɪv/ /dərˈɪvɪtɪv/ Listen

noun

Derivative n.

1.

That which is derived; anything obtained or deduced from another.

2.

(Gram.) A word formed from another word, by a prefix or suffix, an internal modification, or some other change; a word which takes its origin from a root.

3.

(Mus.) A chord, not fundamental, but obtained from another by inversion; or, vice versa, a ground tone or root implied in its harmonics in an actual chord.

4.

(Med.) An agent which is adapted to produce a derivation (in the medical sense).

5.

(Math.) A derived function; a function obtained from a given function by a certain algebraic process. Note: Except in the mode of derivation the derivative is the same as the differential coefficient. See Differential coefficient, under Differential.

6.

(Chem.) A substance so related to another substance by modification or partial substitution as to be regarded as derived from it; thus, the amido compounds are derivatives of ammonia, and the hydrocarbons are derivatives of methane, benzene, etc.

adjective

Derivative adj.

1.

Obtained by derivation; derived; not radical, original, or fundamental; originating, deduced, or formed from something else; secondary; as, a derivative conveyance; a derivative word.

2.

Hence, unoriginal (said of art or other intellectual products.

Derivative circulation, a modification of the circulation found in some parts of the body, in which the arteries empty directly into the veins without the interposition of capillaries.

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Etymology of 'Derivative'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Derivative" Quotes from Famous Books

... their embodiment; (v.) totemistic cults; (vi.) cults of secret societies, and individual cults of tutelary animals; (vii.) cults of tree and vegetation spirits; (viii.) cults of ominous animals; (ix.) cults, probably derivative, of animals associated with certain deities; (x.) cults of animals used ...

— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Part 1, Slice 1 • Various

... some investigations as to the fluctuations of value: "Hitherto I have examined the derivative laws of value in so far only as they are exemplified in the movements of normal prices. It will be interesting now to consider whether it is possible to discover in the movements of market prices ...

— Principles Of Political Economy • John Stuart Mill

... ecclesiastical history. The only point in which he resembles the historian of Rome, is in that vast range of complete erudition which makes the Past in its minutest details as familiar as the Present, which is never content with derivative information, but traces back every tributary of the great stream of History to its remotest accessible source. In this respect the two eminent historians were alike, but with this point of resemblance the similarity ends. ...

— The International Monthly, Volume 2, No. 4, March, 1851 • Various

... fitted to expand itself or ramify, except by analogy. But the other change, the infinity which has been suddenly turned off like a jet of gas, or like the rushing of wind through the tubes of an organ, upon the doctrine and application of spirituality, seems fitted for derivative effects that are innumerable. Consequently, we say of the Non-intrusionists—not only that they are no church; but that they are not even any separate body of Dissenters, until they have published a "Confession" or a revised edition of the ...

— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine -- Volume 55, No. 340, February, 1844 • Various

... question of the conditions of growth of the idea of duty as a sovereign and imperial director. Mr. Darwin seems to us not to have perfectly recognised the logical separation between the two sides of the moral sense question. For example, he says (i. 97) that 'philosophers of the derivative school of morals formerly assumed that the foundation of morality lay in a form of Selfishness; but more recently in the Greatest Happiness principle.' But Mr. Mill, to whom Mr. Darwin refers, ...

— More Letters of Charles Darwin - Volume I (of II) • Charles Darwin

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