derivation

American  

[der-uh-vey-shuhn] / ˌdɛr əˈveɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act or fact of deriving or of being derived.

2. the process of deriving.

3. the source from which something is derived; origin.

4. something that is or has been derived; derivative.

5. Mathematics.

   1. development of a theorem.

   2. differentiation.

6. Grammar.

   1. the process or device of adding affixes to or changing the shape of a base, thereby assigning the result to a form class that may undergo further inflection or participate in different syntactic constructions, as in forming service from serve, song from sing, and hardness from hard (contrasted with inflection).

   2. the systematic description of such processes in a given language.

7. Linguistics.

   1. a set of forms, including the initial form, intermediate forms, and final form, showing the successive stages in the generation of a sentence as the rules of a generative grammar are applied to it.

   2. the process by which such a set of forms is derived.

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derivation British  

/ ˌdɛrɪˈveɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of deriving or state of being derived

2. the source, origin, or descent of something, such as a word

3. something derived; a derivative

4. 1. the process of deducing a mathematical theorem, formula, etc, as a necessary consequence of a set of accepted statements

   2. this sequence of statements

   3. the operation of finding a derivative

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Other Word Forms

• derivational
  adjective
• derivationally
  adverb
• prederivation
  noun

Etymology

Origin of derivation

1375–1425; late Middle English derivacioun < Latin dērīvātiōn- (stem of dērīvātiō ) a turning away, equivalent to dērīvāt ( us ) (past participle of dērīvāre; see derive, -ate ¹) + -iōn- -ion

Explanation

Derivation is fancy word for the origin or root of something. Derivation is most often used in reference to abstract concepts — such as words, names or ideas. The derivation of the word derivation is the Latin derivationem, meaning "a leading off or turning away from." For the origin of more physical things, we tend to use root or source: "Stanley wasn't looking for the derivation of the Nile; he was looking for its source."

Example Sentences

Derivation in and of itself isn’t a crime, especially in Hollywood, where the same 10 stories get recycled with the metronomic regularity of shrink appointments and Botox treatments.

From Washington Post • May 7, 2015

Henderson also wrote one of the first full-length biographies of Mark Twain, a 500,000-word history of his state, and a recondite mathematics treatise, "The Derivation of the Brianchon Configuration for Two Spatial Point-Triads."

From Time Magazine Archive

Derivation of "antithesis"?—Compose an example of an antithesis.—Point out the antithesis in the following:—

From New Word-Analysis by William Swinton

Derivation of "automaton"?—Illustrate the signification of the word by a sentence.

From New Word-Analysis Or, School Etymology of English Derivative Words by Swinton, William

Derivation: From a Caddo word hadai, sig. “brush wood.”

From Indian Linguistic Families Of America, North Of Mexico Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-1886, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 1-142 by Powell, John Wesley