relative Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a person related by blood or marriage
    relation.
    • police are searching for relatives of the deceased
    • he has distant relations back in New Jersey
  2. noun an animal or plant that bears a relationship to another (as related by common descent or by membership in the same genus)
    congeneric; congener; congenator.
  3. adjective estimated by comparison; not absolute or complete
    comparative.
    • a relative stranger
  4. adjective satellite properly related in size or degree or other measurable characteristics; usually followed by `to'
    proportional.
    • the punishment ought to be proportional to the crime
    • earnings relative to production

WordNet

Rel"a*tive adjective
Etymology
F. relatif, L. relativus. See Relate.
Definitions
  1. Having relation or reference; referring; respecting; standing in connection; pertaining; as, arguments not relative to the subject.
    I'll have grounds More relative than this. Shak.
  2. Arising from relation; resulting from connection with, or reference to, something else; not absolute.
    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.
  3. (Gram.) Indicating or expressing relation; refering to an antecedent; as, a relative pronoun.
  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).
Rel"a*tive noun
Definitions
  1. 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 prnoun; a word which relates to, or represents, another word or phrase, called its antecedent; as, the relatives " who", "which", "that".

Webster 1913