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
- nonrelated adjective
- relatedly adverb
- relatedness noun
- unrelated adjective
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.
Examples include pieces related to Marvel, “Star Wars” or Harry Potter.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 19, 2026
Almost 75% of the convictions related to male offenders.
From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026
Bordelon said the suspect was related to some of the children.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 19, 2026
“I do think this fertility crisis is a really complex one where there are lots of reasons and related and unrelated factors that are affecting people’s decisions to have children.”
From Salon • Apr. 18, 2026
His only reservation related to length: “All the columns of a large Gazette would scarcely, I conceive, contain the present draft,” Washington noted, adding at the end, “I may be mistaken.”
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
