Showing results for "derived"

• past participle of derive.
• past tense form of derive.

derived

American  

[dih-rahyvd] / dɪˈraɪvd /

adjective

1. received, obtained, or arising from a particular source or in a particular way.

   The relationship between the root word and the derived form is often metaphorical.

   With ingredients that are 100% naturally derived, we can proudly say our lotion is vegan, cruelty-free, and ecofriendly.

2. dependent on or generated by something more basic; secondary.

   The demand for a piece of capital equipment is a derived demand, as it stems directly from the demand for whatever it helps to produce.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of derive.

Other Word Forms

• self-derived
  adjective
• well-derived
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of derived

derive ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

When something is derived from something else, it is made from that. Ham is derived from pork, and the active ingredient in aspirin is derived from the bark of the willow tree. It's best to use derived when you can still see the parts of the original in something. Some people believe baseball was derived from the game of cricket. Both games involve batting and runners, but cricket was around first. Derived is also the past tense of the verb, derive, which can mean to figure out or get. After six tries, Lucia derived the answer to the difficult math problem.

Example Sentences

One more California legal and constitutional regulation — a very disputatious, valuable and complicated one — derived from Spanish and Mexican practices, very different from East Coast ones: water.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 2, 2026

A key raw material for many of these plastic goods is ethylene, which is derived from naphtha, an oil by-product.

From Barron's • Jun. 28, 2026

Designed to be a popular and affordable means of transport, the Vespa -- which benefited from all sorts of innovations derived from aviation, Piaggio's core business -- also has social significance.

From Barron's • Jun. 27, 2026

While other economists derived sophisticated equations from mountains of data, Greenspan focused on the data itself: Did it add up?

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 22, 2026

Gutenberg’s press was derived from screw presses in use for making wine and olive oil, while his ink was an oil-based improvement on existing inks.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond