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RELATIVE
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An animal or plant that bears a relationship to another (as related by common descent or by membership in the same genus)
Synonyms:
congenator; congener; congeneric; relative
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("relative" is a kind of...):
being; organism (a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A person related by blood or marriage
Example:
he has distant relations back in New Jersey
Synonyms:
relation; relative
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("relative" is a kind of...):
individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "relative"):
better half; married person; mate; partner; spouse (a person's partner in marriage)
sib; sibling (a person's brother or sister)
second cousin (a child of a first cousin of one's parent)
issue; offspring; progeny (the immediate descendants of a person)
next of kin (the person who is (or persons who are) most closely related to a given person)
kissing cousin; kissing kin (a more or less distant relative; familiar enough to be greeted with a kiss)
kinswoman (a female relative)
kinsman (a male relative)
agnate; patrikin; patrilineal kin; patrilineal sib; patrisib (one related on the father's side)
enate; matrikin; matrilineal kin; matrilineal sib; matrisib (one related on the mother's side)
family; kin; kinsperson (a person having kinship with another or others)
blood relation; blood relative; cognate; sib (one related by blood or origin; especially on sharing an ancestor with another)
in-law; relative-in-law (a relative by marriage)
descendant; descendent (a person considered as descended from some ancestor)
cousin; cousin-german; first cousin; full cousin (the child of your aunt or uncle)
ancestor; antecedent; ascendant; ascendent; root (someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent))
Holonyms ("relative" is a member of...):
clan; kin; kin group; kindred; kinship group; tribe (group of people related by blood or marriage)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Estimated by comparison; not absolute or complete
Example:
a relative stranger
Synonyms:
comparative; relative
Classified under:
Similar:
relational (having a relation or being related)
Antonym:
absolute (perfect or complete or pure)
Derivation:
relativity (the quality of being relative and having significance only in relation to something else)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Properly related in size or degree or other measurable characteristics; usually followed by 'to'
Example:
earnings relative to production
Synonyms:
proportional; relative
Classified under:
Similar:
proportionate (being in due proportion)
Derivation:
relativity (the quality of being relative and having significance only in relation to something else)
Context examples:
In our solar system, the amount of carbon relative to hydrogen in the atmospheres of giant planets is significantly higher than that of the sun.
(Water common – yet scarce – in exoplanets, University of Cambridge)
Alternatively, it’s possible you will want to start a family of your own and try for a baby, or perhaps you’ll help a relative who has a newborn and needs you.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
However, DLBCL has fewer circulating tumor cells relative to many other cancers.
(Tumor DNA in Blood Reveals Lymphoma Progression, NIH)
The mountains likely formed no more than 100 million years ago — mere youngsters relative to the 4.56-billion-year age of the solar system — and may still be in the process of building.
(The Icy Mountains of Pluto, NASA)
An identifier that describes the relative position of adverse event data within a series.
(Adverse Event Sequence, NCI Thesaurus)
His father had come from Australia, you know, and so he had no relatives in California.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
An indicator that a measurement is reported as absolute or relative to some other measurement.
(Absolute vs Relative Indicator, NCI Thesaurus)
The reversal of the two natures, in their relative positions, Uriah's of power and Mr. Wickfield's of dependence, was a sight more painful to me than I can express.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
You are free of my box, as being a relative by marriage.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He might remain in Switzerland and wreak his vengeance on my relatives.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
