[syn: proportional, relative]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Relative \Rel"a*tive\ (r?l"?-t?v), a. [F. relatif, L. relativus.
See Relate.]
1. Having relation or reference; referring; respecting;
standing in connection; pertaining; as, arguments not
relative to the subject.
[1913 Webster]
I'll have grounds
More relative than this. --Shak.
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2. Arising from relation; resulting from connection with, or
reference to, something else; not absolute.
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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. --South.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Gram.) Indicating or expressing relation; refering to an
antecedent; as, a relative pronoun.
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4. (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.
--Moore (Encyc. of Music).
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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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Relative \Rel"a*tive\, 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."
--Bp. Fell.
(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".
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
relative
adj 1: estimated by comparison; not absolute or complete; "a
relative stranger" [syn: relative, comparative] [ant:
absolute]
2: 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" [syn: proportional, relative]
n 1: a person related by blood or marriage; "police are
searching for relatives of the deceased"; "he has distant
relations back in New Jersey" [syn: relative, relation]
2: an animal or plant that bears a relationship to another (as
related by common descent or by membership in the same genus)
[syn: relative, congener, congenator, congeneric]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
114 Moby Thesaurus words for "relative":
affiliated, affinitive, agnate, allied, analogical, analogous,
ancestry, appertaining, applicable, approximate, apropos,
associated, associative, aunt, blood, blood relation,
blood relative, brother, child, clansman, cognate, collatable,
collateral, collateral relative, commensurable, commensurate,
comparable, comparative, conditional, congenial, connected,
connections, connective, consanguinean, contingent, contingent on,
correlative, cousin, daughter, dependent on, distaff side,
distant relation, en rapport, enate, family, father, flesh,
flesh and blood, folks, german, germane, grandchild, granddaughter,
grandfather, grandmother, grandparent, grandson, half brother,
interconnected, interrelated, kin, kindred, kinfolk, kinnery,
kinsfolk, kinsman, kinsmen, kinswoman, kith and kin, linking,
matchable, mother, much at one, near, near relation, nephew,
next of kin, niece, parallel, parent, people, pertaining,
pertinent, posterity, proportionable, proportional, proportionate,
referable, referring, related, relating, relation, relational,
relations, relative to, relatives, relevant, reliant, sib, sibling,
similar, sister, son, spear kin, spear side, spindle kin,
spindle side, subject to, subordinate to, sword side, sympathetic,
tribesman, uncle, uterine kin
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
RELATIVE
Early system on IBM 650. Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959).
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
RELATIVE. One connected with another by blood or affinity; a relation, a
kinsman or kinswoman. In an adjective sense, having relation or connexion
with some other person or thing; as relative rights, relative powers.