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relative

/ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv/noun, adjective3 syllables

Relative means: an animal or plant that bears a relationship to another (as related by common descent or by membership in the same genus).

Synonyms for relative12

noun, as in an animal or plant that bears a relationship to another (as related by common descent or by membership in the same genus)

congener, congenator, congeneric

noun, as in a person related by blood or marriage

adjective, as in estimated by comparison; not absolute or complete

comparative, relational

adjective, as in properly related in size or degree or other measurable characteristics; usually followed by ‘to’

proportional, proportionate

also used for relative

Includes material from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Opposites of relative

What does relative mean?4

noun

1

an animal or plant that bears a relationship to another (as related by common descent or by membership in the same genus)

2

a person related by blood or marriage“police are searching for relatives of the deceased”

adjective

1

estimated by comparison; not absolute or complete“a relative stranger”

2

properly related in size or degree or other measurable characteristics; usually followed by ‘to’“the punishment ought to be proportional to the crime”

Definitions from the Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Relative in a sentence

  • Happiness is relative, considering everyone feels differently about different things in different situations.DJ_Saidez
  • An orphan at three, he was brought up by a distant relative.jakov
  • Everything is relative, and that alone is absolute.Objectivesea
  • Relative to overall sales, that of software is insignificant.unknown
  • The truth is relative, just as everything in the world is relative.Objectivesea
  • Today, there is a climate of relative peace in the south-east.vvv123
  • I have a lot of relatives, especially on my mother's side.AlanF_US
  • I know that they're peers, but not relatives.AlanF_US

Sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR, credited to their authors.

Forms of relative

as a noun

plural
relatives