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Definition
something developed from something elsein 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
- Basically they're all testosterone or testosterone derivatives.Carl Deuker -- Gym Candy
- 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
- 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
derivative = something developed from something else
derivatives = things developed from something else
derivative = something developed from something else—such as a word based on another word