relative
Syllables: rel·a·tive/ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
India/rɪˈleː.ʈɪʋ/
relative adjective: connected to or depending on something else; comparative. Also the alternative form of relatively.
Adjective
relative (not comparable)
- Connected to or depending on something else; comparative.
- We've been discussing the relative merits of various methods of transportation.
- I once knew a case—possibly I read of it—where a pack of cards lay on the floor. It was a murder case and the guilt or innocence of an accused man depended on the relative positions of the fifty-first and fifty-second cards.1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados
- Expressed in relation to another item, rather than in complete form.
- The relative URL /images/pic.jpg, when evaluated in the context of http://example.com/index.html, corresponds to the absolute URL http://example.com/images/pic.jpg.
- Depending on an antecedent; comparative.
- The words “big” and “small” are relative.
- Having the same key but differing in being major or minor.
- Relevant; pertinent; related.
- relative to your earlier point about taxes, ...
- The Spirit that I haue ſeene
May be the Diuell, and the Diuel hath power
T'aſſume a pleaſing ſhape, yea and perhaps
Out of my Weakneſſe, and my Melancholly,
As he is very potent with ſuch Spirits,
Abuſes me to damne me. Ile haue grounds
More Relatiue then this: The play's the thing,
Wherein Ile...c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- Capable to be changed by other beings or circumstance; conditional.
Noun
relative (plural relatives)
- Someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption; someone in the same family.
- The eldest son was usually given the name of his paternal grandfather, later children those of other relatives.1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiii
- In 2008, the leader of a pro-government union accused Flores of nepotism after she reportedly hired at least 40 relatives to work within the National Assembly.2026 January 5, Callum Sutherland, “Who Is Cilia Flores? What to Know About Maduro’s Wife Amid Fall of Venezuela's First Couple”, in TIME, archived from the original on 10 Jan 2026
- Something kindred or related to something else.
- Synonyms:
- cousin
- A type of adjective that inflects like a relative clause, rather than a true adjective, in certain Bantu languages.
Also used as
relative is also the alternative form of relatively.
relative meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
relative in Hindi
- conditional; depending on something else
- सापेक्ष sāpekṣ
- someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption; someone in the same family
- रिश्तेदार riśtedār, नातेदार nātedār, संबंधी sambandhī
relative in Tamil
- someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption; someone in the same family
- உறவினர் uṟaviṉar
relative in Marathi
- नातेवाइक
relative in Urdu
- someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption; someone in the same family
- رِشْتَہ دار riśta dār, ناتے دار nāte dār, سَمْبَنْدھی sambandhī
More languagesFewer languages
- relative in Bengali
- কুটুম kuṭum, খেশ kheś, এগানা egana, আপন apon
- relative in Telugu
- బంధువు bandhuvu
- relative in Malayalam
- ആപേക്ഷിക āpēkṣika, താരതമ്യേന tāratamyēna, ബന്ധു bandhu
- relative in Kannada
- ಸಂಬಂಧಿಕ
- relative in Gujarati
- સંબંધી
- relative in Odia
- ଆପେକ୍ଷିକ
- relative in Sanskrit
- सापेक्ष sāpekṣa, बान्धव bāndhava, ज्ञाति jñāti
- relative in Sinhala
- සාපේක්ෂ sāpēkṣa, ඥාතියා gnātiyā
- relative in Assamese
- মিতিৰ mitir, কুটুম kutum, বঙহ boṅoh, আপোন apün
- relative in Nepali
- सापेक्ष, सापेक्षिक
- relative in Tagalog
- matugnay, kamag-anak, hinlog
- relative in Arabic
- نِسْبِيّ nisbiyy, قَرِيب qarīb, قَرِيبَة qarība, أَقْرِبَاء ʔaqribāʔ
- relative in Malay
- saudara, dansanak, badansanak
- relative in Indonesian
- relatif, nisbi, bertalian, kerabat
- relative in Thai
- ญาติ yâat, ญาติพี่น้อง yâat-pîi-nɔ́ɔng
- relative in Vietnamese
- họ hàng, người thân, thân nhân
- relative in Myanmar
- အမျိုး a.myui:
- Kashmiri
- ٲشناو ạ̄śnāv, رِشتہٕ دار riśthụ dār
Examples of relative in a sentence
- He bought a big sofa two days before his relatives arrived.
- He launched into a long-winded discussion of the relative merits of asphalt and concrete.
- The complement of the odd numbers is the even numbers, relative to the natural numbers.
Synonyms of relative
Antonyms
Forms of relative
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| alternative abbreviation | rel. |
| Noun | |
| plural | relatives |
Origin of relative
From Middle French relatif, from Late Latin relātīvus, from Latin relātus, perfect passive participle of referō (“to carry back, to ascribe”), from re- (“again”) + ferō (“to bear or carry”). By surface analysis, relate + -ive.
Words formed from relative
- aliorelative
- blood relative
- ethnorelative
- first-degree relative
- it's all relative
- linear relative
- non-relative
- oreille relative
- relatival
- relative address
- relative adjective
- relative adverb
- relative atomic mass
- relative bearing
- relative bearing grease
- relative clause
- relative complement
- r. pseudo-comp.
- relative dating
- relative density
- relative error
- relative frequency
- relative humidity
- relative-in-law
- relative key
- relatively
- relative majority
- relativeness
- relative permittivity
- relative pin
- relative pitch
- relative pressure
- relative pronoun
- relative skewer
- relative superlative
- relative tense
- relative topology
- second-degree relative
- storm-relative helicity
- third-degree relative
- transrelative
- unrelative
- rellie
- relo
- steprelative
- step-relative
Phrases with relative
- relative keys
- relative pins
- relative time
- relative times
- relative errors
- relative tenses
- relative clauses
- relative datings
- relative pitches
- relative skewers
- relative bearings
- relative pronouns
24 more phrasesFewer phrases
- relative addresses
- relative densities
- relative adjectives
- relative humidities
- relative majorities
- relative topologies
- relative complements
- relative frequencies
- relative superlatives
- relative permittivities
- defining relative clause
- defining relative clauses
- integrated relative clause
- relative pseudo-complement
- integrated relative clauses
- relative pseudo-complements
- restrictive relative clause
- non-defining relative clause
- restrictive relative clauses
- non-defining relative clauses
- supplementary relative clause
- supplementary relative clauses
- non-restrictive relative clause
- non-restrictive relative clauses
Questions about relative
- What does relative mean?
- Relative means connected to or depending on something else; comparative.
- What is relative in Hindi?
- Relative in Hindi is सापेक्ष (sāpekṣ), रिश्तेदार (riśtedār), नातेदार (nātedār). See Relative meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is relative?
- Relative can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce relative?
- Relative is pronounced /ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv/.
Words near relative in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: relative (page history and authors); relative (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); relative (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); relative (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); relative (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); relative (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-relative.ogg.
Cite this entry: “relative.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/relative. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.