Word.ws English Dictionary

recessive

/ɹɪˈsɛsɪv/

recessive adjective: going back; receding.

Adjective

recessive (comparative more recessive, superlative most recessive)

  1. Going back; receding.
  2. Able to be masked by a dominant allele or trait.
    • The Lydenburg male and the other two females have the infuscate pattern definitely more recessive and less evident, although traceable.1944 June 21, James A. G. Rehn, South African Bird-Locust Records and Notes (Orthoptera; Acrididae; Cyrtacanthacridinae; Group Cyrtacanthacres), Notulae Naturae, Number 137, Academy of Natural...
    • This plan takes advantage of the fact that barless is the most recessive of a series of alleles.1988, American Pigeon Journal, volume 76, page 36
  3. (broadly) Not dominant; whose effect is masked by stronger effects.
    • The worker–client relationship is more recessive and has a more catalytic and enabling quality.1979, Ken Heap, Process and Action in Work with Groups: The Preconditions for Treatment and Growth, page ix
    • The law-making or legislative component was the most recessive component of the legal system of hunter-gatherers, although decisions or advice given by mediators were remembered and used again to settle similar violations of rules or disputes among parties.2004, Jonathan H. Turner, Human Institutions: A Theory of Societal Evolution, page 112

Noun

recessive (plural recessives)

  1. A gene that is recessive.
    • Suppose, for example, that we started with a population consisting of pure dominants, heterozygotes, and recessives in the ratio 1 : 4 : 4.1915, Reginald Crundall Punnett, Mimicty in Butterflies, page 95
    • Finally, if we suppose provisionally that the mutant genes are dominant just as often as they are recessive, selection will be far more severe in eliminating the disadvantageous dominants than in eliminating the disadvantageous recessives.1930, R. A. Fisher, J. H. Bennett, The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, page 50

recessive meaning in Tamil, Tagalog, Arabic and Malay

recessive in Tamil

ஒடுங்கியப் பண்பு, பின்னடையும் இயல்பு, பின்னிடைகின்ற, பின்னிடைவு, மங்கிய, அடங்கிய

recessive in Tagalog

in genetics
daigin

recessive in Arabic

in genetics
مُتَنَحٍّ mutanaḥḥin

recessive in Malay

in genetics
resesif
More languagesFewer languages
recessive in Indonesian
resesif
recessive in Vietnamese
lặn

Examples of recessive in a sentence

  • The series of murine Agouti alleles is a consistent array as it progresses from the most recessive to the most dominant allele (Jackson, 1994).2001, D. P. Sponenberg, M. F. Rothschild, 6: Genetics of Coat Colour and Hair Texture, page 65:
  • Selection favoring recessives is common in maize breeding for several traits, such as sweetness, opacity, brachysm, lack of ligules.1988, Arnel R. Hallauer, Marcelo J. Carena, J.B. Miranda Filho, 6: Selection: Theory, 2nd edition, page 234:

All 15 example sentences with recessive

Antonyms of recessive

Forms of recessive

Adjective
comparativemore recessive
superlativemost recessive
Noun
pluralrecessives

Origin of recessive

From Latin recēdō + -ive, or directly from New Latin recessīvus.

Words formed from recessive

Words that rhyme with recessive

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about recessive

What does recessive mean?
Recessive means going back; receding.
What is recessive in Tamil?
Recessive in Tamil is ஒடுங்கியப் பண்பு, பின்னடையும் இயல்பு, பின்னிடைகின்ற. See Recessive meaning in Tamil.
How do you use recessive in a sentence?
The series of murine Agouti alleles is a consistent array as it progresses from the most recessive to the most dominant allele (Jackson, 1994).
What part of speech is recessive?
Recessive can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce recessive?
Recessive is pronounced /ɹɪˈsɛsɪv/.

Words near recessive in the dictionary

  1. recessionistas
  2. recessionitis
  3. recessionlike
  4. recessionproof
  5. recessions
  6. recessive
  7. recessively
  8. recessiveness
  9. recessives
  10. recessivity
  11. recesslike

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: recessive (page history and authors); recessive (Tamil 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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Cite this entry: “recessive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/recessive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.