related
Americanadjective
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associated; connected.
- Synonyms:
- affiliated, relevant
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allied by nature, origin, kinship, marriage, etc.
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narrated, recounted, or told.
There were two eyewitnesses, but their related accounts were completely different.
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Music. (of chords, scales, or tones) having a close harmonic or melodic connection.
adjective
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connected; associated
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connected by kinship or marriage
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(in diatonic music) denoting or relating to a key that has notes in common with another key or keys
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of related
Explanation
Things are related when there's some connection or similarity between them. The fact that you caught a cold might be related to the fact that the kids you babysat sneezed and coughed all night long. People are related when they share a family connection, and other things are related by different kinds of connections. One poem is related to another if they come from the same school or movement of poetry, and a boy's dislike of baseball is probably related to the fact that his first coach yelled a lot. The verb relate is at the root of related, from the Latin relatus, "brought back."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Estimates by economist Stijn van Nieuwerburgh published by the Brookings Institution project that investment in data centers and related AI infrastructure will total $10.3 trillion over 2025-32.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Police have made arrests in three of the cases, which do not appear to be related to the others.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
Was this week’s storm related to El Niño?
From Slate ● Sep. 28, 2026
“The related dislocation has to do with investors expecting the memory cycle to be over, while underwriting continued CPU growth through 2030.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
A judge ruled that Grace Garcia, because she was related to Eduardo Leones and had led the expedition to dig up the cabin boy’s treasure, was entitled to everything buried underneath the school.
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
