relatively
Americanadverb
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in a relative manner.
a relatively small difference.
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Archaic.
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with reference (usually followed byto ).
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in proportion (usually followed byto ).
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adverb
Etymology
Origin of relatively
Explanation
Use relatively when you want to make a statement about something compared to something else. After a zero degree day, 30 degrees might feel relatively warm. This adverb has to do with how things stack up next to each other. Relatively speaking, you could say you're tall if you're around very short people, even if you're just five five. Fat free ice cream is relatively healthy compared to other desserts, but it's still ice cream. If you've been sick for a week and you feel relatively better, you're feeling just a little better. This word only makes sense when you're comparing one thing to another.
Vocabulary lists containing relatively
Britain's Finest Hour Speech - Winston Churchill (1940)
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ly
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"Shakespeare's Life"
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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.
Range risk arrives from the outside, on relatively cheap drones aimed at facilities holding billions of dollars of equipment.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026
Tart cherry juice is a relatively new supplement in the fitness world.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
Ward, who lives with his wife Gill, first applied successfully for a blue badge three years ago and said the process had been relatively simple before.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
The shift toward packaging is making it more of a focus, despite being historically a lower-margin business with relatively little innovation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Though they were relatively small—the size of puppies standing on their hind legs—they took up a lot of space and couldn’t seem to stop knocking into one another.
From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles
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.
