relate
Americanverb (used with object)
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relates,
present (3rd person singular)
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related,
past participle, past
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relating
present participle
verb (used without object)
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relates,
present (3rd person singular)
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related,
past participle, past
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relating
present participle
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to have reference (often followed byto ).
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to have some relation (often followed byto ).
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to establish a social or sympathetic relationship with a person or thing.
two sisters unable to relate to each other.
verb
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(tr) to tell or narrate (a story, information, etc)
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(often foll by to) to establish association (between two or more things) or (of something) to have relation or reference (to something else)
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to form a sympathetic or significant relationship (with other people, things, etc)
Synonym Usage
Relate, recite, recount, rehearse mean to tell, report, or describe in some detail an occurrence or circumstance. To relate is to give an account of happenings, events, circumstances, etc.: to relate one's adventures. To recite may mean to give details consecutively, but more often applies to the repetition from memory of something learned with verbal exactness: to recite a poem. To recount is usually to set forth consecutively the details of an occurrence, argument, experience, etc., to give an account in detail: to recount an unpleasant experience. Rehearse implies some formality and exactness in telling, sometimes with repeated performance as for practice before final delivery: to rehearse one's side of a story.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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relaternoun
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misrelateverb
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prerelateverb (used with object)
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relatableadjective
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unrelatingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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relatesimple
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relatessimple
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have relatedperfect
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has relatedperfect
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am relatingprogressive
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are relatingprogressive
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is relatingprogressive
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have been relatingperfect progressive
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has been relatingperfect progressive
Past
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relatedsimple
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had relatedperfect
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was relatingprogressive
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were relatingprogressive
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had been relatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of relate
First recorded in 1480–90; from Latin relātus, past participle of referre “to carry back” ( see refer)
Explanation
The verb relate means "to make a connection." If you can relate to someone's story, something like that has happened to you. Relate also means "to give an account of something verbally," like relating details of your trip to Sweden. That meaning of relate comes from the Latin word relatus, meaning "to recount, tell." If you talk about the federal budget crisis, people might not be interested until you relate it, meaning "explain the relationship between," to the possible job cuts at your local schools and police departments.
Vocabulary lists containing relate
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Stamp Act (1765)
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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.
See Examples For:
“Neagley” finally loosens up a little, as various issues are dealt with and packed away, and the characters begin to relate on a more personal level, as people who might be friends.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
No doubt parents of young children can relate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Not all disasters are foreseeable but those that relate to geology, like landslides and glacier collapses, can often be detected early in the data, if there is capacity to spot the pattern.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
"My work Lady In Blue will bring to Trafalgar Square a woman that many can relate to," the artist said.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
“Are you asking if I’ll take you? How does this relate to your great yarn idea?”
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
For the Johns Hopkins team, an important question remains how the structure seen in functioning axons relates to the damaging beading associated with neurological disease.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
One recent initiative of this type relates to the visas held by international students, researchers and scholars, and journalists.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
So, here is how their case relates to others, and why they have taken such a big hit.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
Caesar affected to disdain high office but in 27 B.C. maneuvered the Senate into bestowing upon him, as Agrippa relates, “the dignified honorific of Augustus—‘the Revered One’—close to, but not quite, divine.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
For example: Here’s an explanation of the rhetorical term syllepsis: “the use of a word that relates to, qualifies, or governs two or more other words but has a different meaning in relation to each.”
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
A related lesson is that the way you get rich is by owning and not earning.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
The service said the issue was not related to a software defect that led to the cancellation of 2,000 flights across the UK earlier this month.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
For now, the editorial authors suggest shifting more attention and funding toward approaches that have already shown meaningful benefits for preventing falls and related injuries.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026
In late April, Polymarket opened a market on whether Drake would say “Polymarket” on the album, one of many markets it launched related to that album.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
I love it so much I sometimes wonder if I am really related to her.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
A Rwandan man, who has been living in north London, has been charged with offences relating to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
Two provisions of federal law relating to vote buying were adopted by Congress and became law in 1948.
From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2026
Keep original documents, certificates of coverage, premium records, small print relating to your benefits, and reference numbers of all communications/complaints.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 12, 2026
“All correspondence and administrative questions relating to the couple should be sent directly to their office,” he concluded in his letter, “which will continue to operate separately from The Royal Household.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
Carte'sian, relating to the philosophy of Descartes: a French philosopher of the 17th century.
From New Word-Analysis by William Swinton
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.
