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

Our reporting has shown the relative ease with which people — some with questionable backgrounds — founded their own schools in unusual places.

From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026

The investors would profit if bonds outperformed relative to swaps, which acted as the hedge.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026

Ihab Ayad, a relative of the women, said that they had been "minding their own business" at home when Israel carried out the strike.

From Barron's ● Oct. 3, 2026

Asco’s work remained in relative obscurity — living in local mythology through storytellers like Ignacio — for decades.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

Maybe Mr. Poe was going to take them by train to another relative.

From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket

That means authorities must process samples from both unidentified remains and thousands of relatives before they can establish matches.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

But Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification said Pyongyang may choose to "let the incident pass", wary of the reaction from other families whose relatives were deployed to Russia.

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

The law also allows parents, siblings and other relatives to complain to police about an allegedly unlawful conversion, leaving the person accused of causing or assisting it to prove that it was lawful.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026

Researchers hope future discoveries will provide additional clues about the evolutionary history of marine reptiles and their relatives that remained on land.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026

“You certainly seem to talk. I wonder if you have relatives in other villages. Did a witch put a curse on Rumpy’s foot? What do you do when someone gets sick? Do you have ngangas?”

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

Related Words

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