RELATIVE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Relative

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/rˈɛlətɪv/ Listen

adjective

Relative adj.

Having relation or reference; referring; respecting; standing in connection; pertaining; as, arguments not relative to the subject. "I'll have grounds More relative than this."

Arising from relation; resulting from connection with, or reference to, something else; not absolute. "Every thing sustains both an absolute and a relative capacity: an absolute, as it is such a thing, endued with such a nature; and a relative, as it is a part of the universe, and so stands in such a relations to the whole."

(Gram.) Indicating or expressing relation; refering to an antecedent; as, a relative pronoun.

(Mus.) 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.

Relative clause (Gram.), a clause introduced by a relative pronoun.

Relative term, a term which implies relation to, as guardian to ward, matter to servant, husband to wife. Cf. Correlative.

noun

Relative n. 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. Specifically:

(a)

A person connected by blood or affinity; strictly, one allied by blood; a relation; a kinsman or kinswoman. "Confining our care... to ourselves and relatives."

(b)

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

See images of 'Relative'

Etymology of 'Relative'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Relative" Quotes from Famous Books

... conjunctive (sentence), also coition; Al-Mausl the conjoined, a grammatical term for relative pronoun or particle. ...

— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 9 • Richard F. Burton

... who is fit for the office of President in these times should be one who knows how to advance, an art which General McClellan has never learned. He must be one who comprehends that three years of war have made vast changes in the relative values of things. He must be one who feels to the very marrow of his bones that this is a war, not to conserve the forms, but the essence, of free institutions. He must be willing to sacrifice everything to the single ...

— The Writings of James Russell Lowell in Prose and Poetry, Volume V - Political Essays • James Russell Lowell

... some performances so entirely out of the ordinary course of events as to institute (sic) inquiry relative to ...

— Modern Mythology • Andrew Lang

... chargers' hoofs; Paris hath yielded to her conquering arms, And with the ancient crown of Dagobert Adorns the scion of a foreign race. Our king's descendant, disinherited, Must steal in secret through his own domain; While his first peer and nearest relative Contends against him in the hostile ranks; Ay, his unnatural mother leads them on. Around us towns and peaceful hamlets burn. Near and more near the devastating fire Rolls toward these vales, which ...

— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller

... curved. They grow in clusters of from three to six or seven and become pendulous as they increase in weight. This species is nearly related to the sugar pine and, though not half so tall, it suggests its noble relative in the way that it extends its long branches in general habit. It is first met on the upper margin of the silver fir zone, singly, in what appears as chance situations without making much impression on the general forest. Continuing up through the forests of the two-leaved pine it begins to ...

— The Yosemite • John Muir

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