Word.ws English Dictionary

derive

UK/dɪˈɹaɪv/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/dɪˈɹɑev/

derive verb: to obtain or receive (something) from something else.

Verb

derive (third-person singular simple present derives, present participle deriving, simple past and past participle derived)

  1. (transitive) To obtain or receive (something) from something else.
    • Reading books is the best way to derive knowledge.
    • Bob the aforesaid, and his present chances of deriving a competent independence from the honourable profession to which he had devoted himself.1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “Relates How Mr. Pickwick, with the Assistance of Samuel Weller, Essayed to Soften the Heart of Mr. Benjamin Allen, and to Mollify the Wrath of Mr. Robert...
  2. (transitive) To deduce (a conclusion) by reasoning.
  3. (transitive) To find the derivation of (a word or phrase).
  4. (transitive) To create (a compound) from another by means of a reaction.
  5. (intransitive) To originate or stem (from).
    • Her excellent organisation skills derive from her time as a secretary in the army.
    • Britannia's firebox would appear to have derived from those of the Bulleid Pacifics, which it closely resembles.1951 April, Stirling Everard, “A Matter of Pedigree”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 273
  6. To turn the course of (water, etc.); to divert and distribute into subordinate channels.
    • For fear it [water] choke up the pits […] they [the workman] deriue it by other drains.Book 33
  7. (proscribed, transitive) To differentiate (a function).

derive meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam

derive in Hindi

to derive, to obtain, to harvest
उठाना uṭhānā

derive in Tamil

உய்த்துணர், பெறுவி, உய்த்தறி, கொணா, தருவி, வருவி

derive in Bengali

উৎপত্তি নির্ণয় করা

derive in Malayalam

നേടുക, അനുമാനിക്കുക, ഉത്ഭവിക്കുക, ഊഹിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
derive in Kannada
ಪಡೆ, ಹುಟ್ಟು, ತೆಗೆ, ಹೊಂದು
derive in Arabic
استمد, استنتج
derive in Persian
آریکدن, برگرفتن bargereftan

Examples of derive in a sentence

  • Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.2013 July-August, Sarah Glaz, “Ode to Prime Numbers”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
  • At Flickr, a photo's interestingness derives from views, comments, notes, bookmarks, favorites...2010, Peter Morville, Jeffery Callender, Search Patterns: Design for Discovery:
  • As in much of biology, the most satisfying truths in ecology derive from manipulative experimentation.2012 January, Robert M. Pringle, “How to Be Manipulative”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 31:

All 40 example sentences with derive

Forms of derive

third-person singular presentderives
present participlederiving
past participlederived
pastderived

Past tense of derive: derived

Origin of derive

From Middle English deriven, from Old French deriver, from Latin dērīvō (“to lead, turn, or draw off (a liquid), draw off, derive”), from dē (“away”) + rīvus (“a stream”); see rival. Unrelated to arrive.

Words formed from derive

Words that rhyme with derive

34 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about derive

What does derive mean?
Derive means to obtain or receive (something) from something else.
What is derive in Hindi?
Derive in Hindi is उठाना (uṭhānā). See Derive meaning in Hindi.
How do you use derive in a sentence?
Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.
What part of speech is derive?
Derive is a verb.
How do you pronounce derive?
Derive is pronounced /dɪˈɹaɪv/ (UK).
What is the past tense of derive?
The past tense of derive is derived.

Words near derive in the dictionary

  1. derivatograph
  2. derivatographic
  3. derivatographically
  4. derivatographs
  5. derivatography
  6. derive
  7. deriveable
  8. derived
  9. derived characteristic
  10. derived characteristics
  11. derived class

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: derive (page history and authors); उठाना (Hindi) (page history and authors); derive (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); derive (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); derive (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); derive (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-derive.ogg.

Cite this entry: “derive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/derive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.