relative

English

Etymology

From Latin relativus, from relatus, perfect passive participle of referre (“to carry back, to ascribe”), from re- (“again”) + ferre (“to bear or carry”)

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

relative (not comparable)

1. Connected to or depending on something else; not absolute; comparative.
   • 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, BBC Sport:

     For Liverpool, their season will now be regarded as a relative disappointment after failure to add the FA Cup to the Carling Cup and not mounting a challenge to reach the Champions League places.

2. (computing, of a URL, URI, path, or similar) 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/docs/pic.html, corresponds to the absolute URL http://example.com/images/pic.jpg.

3. (grammar) That relates to an antecedent.
4. (music) Having the same key but differing in being major or minor.
5. Relevant; pertinent; related.

   relative to your earlier point about taxes, ...

Antonyms

• absolute

Derived terms

• relative to

Translations

not absolute; connected to or depending on something else

• Arabic: نسبي (ar) (nisbiy)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: trad. 有關, simpl. 有关 (pinyin: yǒuguān) (-的 -de), trad. 相對, simpl. 相对 (pinyin: xiāngduì) (-的 -de), trad. 關連, simpl. 关连 (pinyin: guānlián) (-的 -de)

• Czech: relativní (cs), vztažný (cs) m (of pronoun)
• Danish: relativ (da)
• Dutch: relatief (nl)
• Estonian: suhteline (et), relatiivne (et)
• Finnish: suhteellinen (fi), relatiivinen (fi)
• French: relatif (fr), relative (fr)
• German: vergleichsweise (de), relativ (de)
• Greek: σχετικός (el) (schetikós) m, συγκριτικός (el) (sygkritikós) m
• Hungarian: relatív (hu), viszonylagos (hu)
• Ido: relat-anta (io)
• Indonesian: relatif (id), nisbi (id), bertalian (id)
• Italian: relativo (it)
• Japanese: 関連した (ja) (かんれんした, kanren-shita), 相対的な (ja) (そうたいてきな, soutaitekina)

• Jèrriais: èrlatif
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

  Sorani: نسبی (ku) (nisbí)

• Latin: relativus (la)
• Norwegian: relativ (no)
• Persian: نسبی (fa) (nesbi)
• Polish: relatywny (pl) m
• Portuguese: relativo (pt) m
• Romanian: relativ (ro)
• Russian: относительный (ru) (otnosítel'nyj), релятивный (ru) (reljatívnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: dàimheach (gd)
• Spanish: relativo (es)
• Swedish: relativ (sv)

Noun

relative (plural relatives)

1. Someone in the same family; someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption.

   Why do my relatives always talk about sex?

2. (linguistics) A type of adjective that inflects like a relative clause, rather than a true adjective, in certain Bantu languages.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:relative

Translations

someone in the same family; someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption

• Arabic: قريب (ar) (qariib) m, قريبة (ar) (qariiba) f
• Armenian: ազգական (hy) (azgakan), բարեկամ (hy) (barekam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 親戚 (cmn), 亲戚 (cmn) (qīnqi)

• Czech: příbuzný (cs) m
• Danish: pårørende (da), beslægtet (da), frænde (da)
• Dutch: familielid (nl) n, bloedverwant (nl) m
• Esperanto: (♂♀) parenco (eo), (neologism, ♂) parenciĉo (eo), (♂) virparenco (eo), (♀) parencino (eo)
• Estonian: sugulane (et)
• Finnish: sukulainen (fi)
• French: parent (fr) m, géniteur (fr) m, génitrice (fr) f
• Galician: parente (gl) m and f
• Georgian: ნათესავი (ka) (natesavi)
• German: Verwandter (de) m, Verwandte (de) f
• Greek: συγγενής (el) (syngenís) m and f, οικείος (el) (oikeíos) m
• Hindi: रिश्तेदार (hi) (riśtedār) m and f
• Hungarian: rokon (hu)
• Icelandic: ættingi (is) m
• Ido: (♂♀) parento (io), (♂) parentulo (io), (♀) parentino (io)
• Indonesian: kerabat (id)
• Irish: duine muinteartha (ga) m, gaol (ga) m
• Italian: parente (it) m, congiunto (it) m
• Japanese: 親戚 (ja) (しんせき, shinseki), 身内 (ja) (みうち, miuchi), 関係詞 (ja) (かんけいし, kankeishi)
• Korean: 친척 (ko) (chincheok) 親戚 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: خزم

• Latin: pignus (la) n
• Luhya: omulebe
• Macedonian: роднина (mk) (ródnina) m and f
• Nahuatl: ueponi (nah)
• Navajo: hakʼéí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: slektning (no) m

  Nynorsk: slektning (nn) m

• Old Church Slavonic: ближика (bližika) m
• Persian: نزدیکان (fa) (nazdikân) pl
• Piedmontese: parent
• Polish: krewny (pl) m, krewna (pl) f
• Portuguese: parente (pt) m
• Russian: родственник (ru) (ródstvennik) m, родственница (ru) (ródstvennica) f
• Scottish Gaelic: caraid (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: род (sh) m

  Roman: rod (sh) m

• Spanish: pariente (es) m
• Swahili: ndugu (sw) (noun 9/10), jamaa (sw), akraba (sw)
• Swedish: släkting (sv) c
• Tamil: உறவினர் (ta) (uṟaviNar)
• Taos: k’òwa’ána
• Telugu: బంధువు (te) (bamdhuvu)
• Thai: ญาติ (th) (yâat), ญาติพี่น้อง (th) (yâat pêe nóng)
• Turkish: akraba (tr)
• Urdu: رشتہ دار (ur) (riśte dār) m and f
• Venetian: parènt
• Vietnamese: họ hàng (vi)
• Volapük: (♂♀) röletan (vo), (♂) hiröletan (vo), (♀) jiröletan (vo)

Related terms

• relate
• relation
• relationship
• relativism
• relativity

See also

aunt brother cousin father godparent grandchild granddaughter

grandson great-grandchild great-grandparent in-law mother niece

nephew parent refer referral sister stepdaughter stepson uncle

Anagrams

• levirate

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Danish

Adjective

relative

1. definite and plural of relativ

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Esperanto

Adverb

relative

1. relatively

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʁəlativ/

Adjective

relative f

1. feminine form of relatif

Anagrams

• lèverait
• lévitera
• relevait
• révélait

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German

Adjective

relative

1. inflected form of relativ

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Italian

Adjective

relative pl

1. feminine form of relativo

Anagrams

• evitarle
• levitare
• leviterà
• rilevate
• rivalete
• rivelate
• vietarle

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Latin

Adjective

relātīve

1. vocative masculine singular of relātīvus

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Swedish

Adjective

relative

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of relativ.