relative to

Idioms  

1. Correspondent or proportionate to, as in Relative to its size, Boston has a great many universities, or It's important to get all the facts relative to the collision. Another form of this idiom is, meaning “in reference or with regard to,” as in Demand is high in relation to supply, or That argument changes nothing with relation to our plans for hiring workers. The usages with relative date from the second half of the 1700s, those with relation from the late 1500s.

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Example Sentences

Precision–recall analysis examines a similar trade-off, asking how accurate the system’s alerts are relative to the number of incidents it successfully detects.

From Salon • May 12, 2026

Of nonprofit leaders surveyed, nearly 60% said they have had a more difficult time securing grants from foundations relative to the past and more than 40% said their existing funders have cut back.

From Barron's • May 12, 2026

Some researchers have argued that predictive policing systems do not increase the likelihood that racial minorities will be arrested more often relative to traditional policing practices.

From Salon • May 12, 2026

NFL owners and executives saw their own soaring ratings relative to basketball and other sports and shared the same thought: We’re way underpaid.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026

He'd asked Big Harm's husband, who shares the Das surname because he's some sort of relative, to snip a lock of Baba's hair and put it in the urn before...

From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins