relate /ri-lātˈ/

1. To recount, narrate, tell
2. To give an account of (Milton)
3. To bring back (Spenser)
4. To refer, bring into connection or relation

1. To date back in application (law)
2. To have reference or relation
3. To connect
4. To get on well (with) (often with to; informal)
5. To discourse (Shakespeare)

(with cap) in Britain, a marriage guidance service

relāˈtable adjective

relāˈted adjective

1. Narrated
2. Referred (to) (rare)
3. Connected
4. Allied by blood or marriage (also figurative)
5. (of a key) sharing notes with another key or keys (music)

relāˈtedness noun

relāˈter noun

A person who relates

relāˈtion noun

1. Act of relating
2. State or mode of being related
3. Narrative or recital
4. Statement
5. An information (law)
6. Way in which one thing is connected with another
7. A quality that can be predicated, not of a single thing, but only of two or more together (philosophy)
8. Respect, reference
9. A relative by birth or marriage
10. (in pl) mutual dealings
11. (in pl) sexual intercourse (euphemistic)

relāˈtional adjective

Concerning, expressing, or of the nature of relation, esp syntactic relation in grammatical structures

relāˈtionally adverb

relāˈtionism noun (philosophy)

1. The doctrine that relations have an objective existence
2. The doctrine of relativity of knowledge

relāˈtionist noun

relāˈtionless adjective

1. Kinless
2. Unrelated

relāˈtionship noun

1. A state or mode of being related
2. Relations
3. An emotional or sexual affair

relatival /rel-ə-tīˈvl/ adjective

Concerning relation, esp grammatical relation

relˈative /-ə-tiv/ adjective

1. In or having relation
2. Correlative
3. Corresponding
4. Having the same key-signature (music)
5. Relevant
6. Comparative
7. Not absolute or independent
8. Relating, having reference (to)
9. Referring to an antecedent (grammar)

1. That which is relative
2. A relative word, esp a relative pronoun
3. A person who is related by blood or marriage

relˈatively adverb

relˈativeness noun

relˈativism noun

1. Relationism
2. A doctrine of relativity
3. The view that accepted standards of right and good vary with environment and from person to person

relˈativist noun

relativisˈtic adjective

Relating to relativity, or to relativism

relativisˈtically adverb

relativˈitist noun

A person who studies or accepts relativity

relativˈity noun

1. State or fact of being relative
2. (in pl) related aspects of pay, working conditions, etc between different jobs or the same job in different areas
3. A principle which asserts that only relative, not absolute, motion can be detected in the universe (Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, 1905, starts from two fundamental postulates: (1) that all motion is relative, (2) that the velocity of light is always constant relative to an observer; his General Theory of Relativity, 1916, which embraces the Special Theory, deals with varying velocities or accelerations, whereas the Special Theory dealt with constant relative velocity, or zero acceleration, and it is much concerned with gravitation; in each case Einstein derived important equations and made predictions)

relativīzāˈtion or relativīsāˈtion noun

relˈativize or relˈativise transitive verb and intransitive verb

To make or become relative

relator /ri-lāˈtər/ noun

1. A person who relates
2. A narrator
3. A person who lays an information before the Attorney-General, enabling him to take action (law)

relational database noun (computing)

A database that is constructed so that related items of data can be accessed or retrieved together

relative abundance noun

1. A rough measure of population density, eg number of birds seen per hour, or the percentage of sample plots occupied by a species of plant (ecology)
2. See abundance (physics)

relative address noun

A location in the memory of a computer described in terms of its distance from another location

relative aperture noun

(in a camera) the ratio of the diameter of the lens to the focal length usu expressed as the f-number

relative atomic mass noun

The inferred weight of an atom of an element relatively to that of oxygen as 16 or, more recently, carbon-12 taken as 12

relative density noun

The weight of any given substance as compared with the weight of an equal bulk or volume of water or other standard substance at the same, or at standard, temperature and pressure

relative humidity noun

The ratio of the amount of water vapour in the air to the amount that would saturate it at the same temperature

relative majority noun

An excess number of votes won in an election over a runner-up when no candidate has more than fifty per cent

• grated
• grateful
• gratefully
• gratefulness
• gratefulnesses
• grater
• graters
• grates
• graticulation
• graticulations
• graticule
• graticules
• gratification
• gratifications
• gratified
• gratifier
• gratifiers
• gratifies
• gratify
• gratifying
• gratifyingly
• gratillities
• gratillity
• gratin
• gratinate