Sample sentences for DERIVATIVE

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Definition

something developed from something else

in various senses, including:

a word based on another word — as in "Quickly is a derivative of quick."
a mathematical value from a function — as in "We can derive X from Y," or "X is a derivative of Y."
a type of investment whose value is based on another value — as in "We provide various derivatives that can protect against inflation."
a work of art such as a film or painting that lacks ideas not previously expressed in other works of art — as in "Her work is too derivative to interest me."
work based upon or influenced by prior work — as in "The book surveys psychological ideas derivative of, but not totally dependent on B.F. Skinner."

Comparisons between original scientific reports and derivative science journalism and popular science typically reveals at least some level of distortion and oversimplification, often quite dramatic...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_science (retrieved 04/01/08)

a highly derivative prose style

derivative = something developed from something else

Basically they're all testosterone or testosterone derivatives.
Carl Deuker -- Gym Candy

derivatives = things developed from something else

Red paused for a minute and then spoke directly to Margaret and me using a derivative of my name that only Red Stevens was allowed to use.
Jim Stovall -- The Ultimate Gift

derivative = something developed from something else—such as a word based on another word

a derivative process
...I spent some months in a research into the coal-tar derivatives, which I conducted in a laboratory at...
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- The Return of Sherlock Holmes
"The Idiots" is such an obviously derivative piece of work that it is impossible for me to say anything about it here.
Conrad, Joseph -- Tales of Unrest
There's a certain kind of conversation you have from time to time at parties in New York about a new book. The word "banal" sometimes rears its by-now banal head; you say "under edited," I say "derivative." The conversation goes around and around various literary criticisms, and by the time it moves on one thing is clear: No one read the book; we just read the reviews.
Anna Quindlen
You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research.
James Fenimore Cooper -- The Last of the Mohicans
SEMUTA: the second narcotic derivative (by crystal extraction) from burned residue of elacca wood.
Frank Herbert -- Dune
A derivative of Elizabeth.
Ted Dekker -- BoneMan's Daughters
His work was dismissed, ridiculed, described as derivative and silly.
Dan Simmons -- Hyperion
'You think it's tacky and derivative.
Sarah Dessen -- Lock and Key
Lucas said, "I'm just saying we don't want to come across as derivative."
Sarah Dessen -- This Lullaby
You never were a consignee and you have derivative PanAfrican citizenship through one of your grandfathers, no huhu.
Robert A. Heinlein -- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
What attracts you to derivatives in particular?
Sophie Kinsella -- Confessoins of a Shopaholic
For life, I prize it As I weigh grief, which I would spare: for honour, 'tis a derivative from me to mine, And only that I stand for.
William Shakespeare -- The Winter's Tale
It's called Nyodene Derivative or Nyodene D. It was in a movie we saw in school on toxic wastes.
Don DeLillo -- White Noise
This choice was anathema to Sullivan, who abhorred derivative architecture, but during the meeting he made no objection.
Erik Larson -- The Devil in the White City
The whole thing is less derivative than it sounds and not without humor and irony.
Thomas C. Foster -- How to Read Literature Like a Professor

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