Showing results for "derived"

• past tense form of derive.
• past participle of derive.

derived

American  

[dih-rahyvd] / dɪˈraɪvd /

adjective

1. received, obtained, or arising from a particular source or in a particular way.

   The relationship between the root word and the derived form is often metaphorical.

   With ingredients that are 100% naturally derived, we can proudly say our lotion is vegan, cruelty-free, and ecofriendly.

2. dependent on or generated by something more basic; secondary.

   The demand for a piece of capital equipment is a derived demand, as it stems directly from the demand for whatever it helps to produce.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of derive.

Other Word Forms

• self-derived
  adjective
• well-derived
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of derived

derive ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

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Explanation

When something is derived from something else, it is made from that. Ham is derived from pork, and the active ingredient in aspirin is derived from the bark of the willow tree. It's best to use derived when you can still see the parts of the original in something. Some people believe baseball was derived from the game of cricket. Both games involve batting and runners, but cricket was around first. Derived is also the past tense of the verb, derive, which can mean to figure out or get. After six tries, Lucia derived the answer to the difficult math problem.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

derived

Its title is derived from Shakespeare’s “Othello,” and the show earned Joycean comparisons, including to “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Black Man,” from critics.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

Bartholdi and Laboulaye spent about 10 years drumming up funding for the project, and the show presents a compendium of 19th-century commercial imagery, derived from magazines, posters and advertisements meant to publicize the statue-in-progress.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026

"A lot of the wealth of the United Kingdom was derived from Guyana," lawmaker Terrence Campbell told AFP at a small demonstration.

From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026

Investors are increasingly questioning the sustainability of the capex cycle and whether sufficient returns can be derived from the initial investment, given the huge sums involved.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026

When we consider the advantages that Spaniards derived from horses, steel weapons, and armor against foot soldiers without metal, it should no longer surprise us that Spaniards consistently won battles against enormous odds.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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