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

ABS uses tracking technology — 12 Hawk-Eye cameras — to determine the precise location of a pitch relative to a batter’s specific strike zone.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026

This represents a 55% price-to-earnings-growth discount relative to its megacap technology peers and places the stock one standard deviation below its 10-year average, Nowak wrote.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 30, 2026

Private credit is comparable to subprime, which at its peak totaled roughly $1.5 trillion, about 15% of all residential mortgages, though that was much larger relative to the economy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 29, 2026

Also, sub-investment-grade corporate credit has remained stable over the past decade relative to the size of the U.S. economy, according to a report from Morgan Stanley economists Vishwanath Tirupattur and Vishwas Patkar.

From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026

Lazlo squinted across the distance, gauging the blocks’ position relative to the great seraph overhead.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor