relative

American  

[rel-uh-tiv] / ˈrɛl ə tɪv /

noun

• relatives
  plural

1. a person who is connected with another or others by blood or marriage.

2. something having, or standing in, some relation or connection to something else.

3. something dependent upon external conditions for its specific nature, size, etc. (opposed to absolute).

4. Grammar. a relative pronoun, adjective, or adverb.

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adjective

1. considered in relation to something else; comparative.

   the relative merits of democracy and monarchy.

2. existing or having its specific nature only by relation to something else; not absolute or independent.

   Happiness is relative.

3. having relation or connection.

4. having reference or regard; relevant; pertinent (usually followed byto ).

   to determine the facts relative to an accident.

5. correspondent; proportionate.

   Value is relative to demand.

6. (of a term, name, etc.) depending for significance upon something else.

   “Better” is a relative term.

7. Grammar.

   1. noting or pertaining to a word that introduces a subordinate clause of which it is, or is a part of, the subject or predicate and that refers to an expressed or implied element of the principal clause (the antecedent), as the relative pronoun who in He's the man who saw you or the relative adverb where in This is the house where she was born.

   2. noting or pertaining to a relative clause.

idioms

1. it’s all relative. see it's all relative.

relative British  

/ ˈrɛlətɪv /

adjective

1. having meaning or significance only in relation to something else; not absolute

   a relative value

2. (prenominal) (of a scientific quantity) being measured or stated relative to some other substance or measurement Compare absolute

   relative humidity

   relative density

3. (prenominal) comparative or respective

   the relative qualities of speed and accuracy

4. in proportion (to); corresponding (to)

   earnings relative to production

5. having reference (to); pertinent (to)

   matters not relative to the topic under discussion

6. grammar denoting or belonging to a class of words that function as subordinating conjunctions in introducing relative clauses. In English, relative pronouns and determiners include who, which, and that Compare demonstrative interrogative

7. grammar denoting or relating to a clause ( relative clause ) that modifies a noun or pronoun occurring earlier in the sentence

8. (of a musical key or scale) having the same key signature as another key or scale

   C major is the relative major of A minor

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noun

1. a person who is related by blood or marriage; relation

2. a relative pronoun, clause, or grammatical construction

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonrelative
  noun
• nonrelativeness
  noun
• relativeness
  noun
• unrelative
  adjective
• nonrelatively
  adverb
• unrelatively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• relatives
  plural

Etymology

Origin of relative

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English relatif (noun), either from Middle French or from Late Latin relātīvus (adjective); see relate, -ive

Explanation

A relative is a person who is part of your family. Parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, grandparents, cousins, nieces and nephews — they're all relatives. A relative can be connected to your family through blood or by marriage. If you are a child or grandchild of Maria's, for example, you are a blood relative of her family. If you marry Maria's son, you become a relative by marriage. Relative is also an adjective that means "estimated by comparison," like the steep hill that is tiny, relative to the mountain behind it.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

relative relatives

When the relative amount of histidine was high, the bees reduced their overall food intake.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

"It's an open wound. It doesn't heal. They have no rest not even knowing if their relative is dead or alive," she tells us.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

Geopolitics remains the main driver of GCC sentiment, but differences in fundamentals, valuations and liquidity are increasingly driving relative performance across markets, Abou Ismail says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

Arya said he thinks Nvidia’s stock looks cheap relative to its free-cash-flow profile, and he believes the company could satisfy investors by delivering more of its cash back to shareholders.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026

“Moss grows on the north side of the tree. Once you find north, everything else is relative to that.”

From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray

“For the remaining costs, most parents use a combination of funding sources with 48% of funds coming from savings and income, 23% from loans, and 2% from relatives and friends,” he adds.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026

For now, they are staying with relatives in the town while they work out what their next steps will be.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

Giant ground sloths lived alongside glyptodonts, heavily built relatives of armadillos, as well as several groups of ungulates.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

Porter’s relatives and their attorney, Jamal Tooson, have repeatedly said Porter was no threat to anyone.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

I wasn’t lying when I said my bar mitzvah was a tribute to my family killed during the Holocaust and the scores of relatives who never got the chance to be born.

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman

Related Words

• aunt
• cousin
• father
• folk
• mother
• niece
• sibling
• uncle