Sample Sentences for
relative
grouped by contextual meaning
(editor-reviewed)

relative as in:  the relative importance

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I am comparing the relative benefits of both proposals.
relative = compared to each other
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    How does our cost and profit change relative to sales volume?
    relative = compared (in this case looking at the changes in cost and profit at different levels of sales volume)
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    I feel poor compared to some of my classmates, but I know I am rich relative to most people in the world.
    relative = compared
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    We keep it at ninety-nine degrees Fahrenheit and a relative humidity of one hundred percent.  (source)
    relative = compared with something else (in this case, the measure of humidity is affected by the temperature)
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Show 10 more with 3 word variations
  • •
    In the relative calm that followed, Lockhart straightened up, caught sight of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were almost at the door, and said, "Well, I'll ask you three to just nip the rest of them back into their cage."  (source)
    relative = compared to other things
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    Partly because of Ender's influence, they were the most flexible of armies, responding relatively quickly to new situations.  (source)
    relatively = in comparison to others
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    I'd never been called a liar by a nonrelative adult before.†  (source)
    standard prefix: The prefix "non-" in nonrelative means not and reverses the meaning of relative. This is the same pattern you see in words like nonfat, nonfiction, and nonprofit.
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    But despite the relative proximity of the bus to civilization, for all practical purposes McCandless was cut off from the rest of the world.  (source)
    relative = when compared to other things
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    ...she couldn't get the brakes to work and she had Brian and me stick our heads out the windows and scream, "No brakes! No brakes!" as we rolled through intersections and she looked for something relatively soft to crash into.  (source)
    relatively = in comparison (to alternatives)
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    It was hot now, but the sun was high and to his rear and he sat in the shade of the tree in relative comfort.  (source)
    relative = compared to other things
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    He knew relatively few of the patients, but they all knew him.  (source)
    relatively = in comparison to something else
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    Jem said Mr. Avery misfigured, Dill said he must drink a gallon a day, and the ensuing contest to determine relative distances and respective prowess only made me feel left out again, as I was untalented in this area.  (source)
    relative = in comparison to each other
  • •
    But the canvas knapsack was relatively dry, still held above the breaking waves.  (source)
    relatively = in comparison to alternatives
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    For the next decade, Ogden and Kira enjoyed a peaceful, happy existence, living and working in relative seclusion.  (source)
    relative = in comparison to prior experience
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relative as in:  they are relatives

Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    I have relatives in California.
    relatives = family members (related by blood or marriage)
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    -he just gets passed around from relative to relative, and Miss Rachel keeps him every summer.  (source)
    relative = a person related by blood or marriage
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    Apparently there was always at least one stray relative living at the Finneys' temporarily.  (source)
    relative = person related by blood or marriage
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Show 10 more with 2 word variations
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    The Dursleys had always forbidden questions about his wizarding relatives.  (source)
    relatives = people related by blood or marriage
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    And she had Mrs. Murdo, who was somewhere between a friend and a relative.  (source)
    relative = person related by blood or marriage
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    His mother had left some salmon out by mistake one time when they went on an overnight trip to Cape Hesper to visit relatives and when they got back the smell filled the whole house.  (source)
    relatives = people related by blood or marriage
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    Having the school's god as my relative helped in some other ways too.  (source)
    relative = a person related by blood
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    He had died a sixty-seven-year-old bachelor, with no living relatives and, by most accounts, without a single friend.  (source)
    relatives = people related by blood or marriage
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    They ignore the reality that a new version of the same old problem will be waiting at the end of the trip—the relative you cringe to kiss.  (source)
    relative = a person related by blood or marriage
  • •
    There's lots of events and stuff, and some relatives comin' in.  (source)
    relatives = people related by blood or marriage
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    Grace Wexler raised her hand, lowered it, raised it halfway, then lowered it again, torn between her claim as Sam Westing's relative and being accused of murder.  (source)
    relative = a person related by blood or marriage
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    I kept tossing and turning as my relatives grunted, sighed, and snored in their sleep.  (source)
    relatives = people related by blood or marriage
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    Suddenly Nate was an orphan with just one living relative in the world: the uncle that Papa had always hated.  (source)
    relative = person related by blood or marriage
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relative as in:  questions relative to the topic

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I have some additional questions relative to the issue we discussed last night.
relative = related to
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    Are there questions relative to our discussion?
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    You can bring up your motions relative to that ruling this afternoon or if there's a break.  (source)
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    But she said nothing, to him, relative to the affair, until they were both out in the yard behind the barn milking the cows.  (source)
    relative = concerning (related to)
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    Do you have any idea where we are relative to Bholevna?  (source)
    relative = in relation to
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    … I may be in contact with you shortly relative to messages I expect will have been sent to me.  (source)
    relative = concerning (related to)
  • •
    At that time I will ask you to sign the necessary forms of consent relative to the treatments we propose.  (source)
    relative = related to
  • •
    It had been real business, relative to the renewal of a lease in which the welfare of a large and—he believed—industrious family was at stake.  (source)
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    "So far, you haven't told me anything startling," said Bourne, "nothing relative to the information I'm interested in."  (source)
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    …but Mr. Yates, without discernment to catch Sir Thomas's meaning, or diffidence, or delicacy, or discretion enough to allow him to lead the discourse while he mingled among the others with the least obtrusiveness himself, would keep him on the topic of the theatre, would torment him with questions and remarks relative to it, and finally would make him hear the whole history of his disappointment at Ecclesford.  (source)
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    He was to go to town as soon as some business relative to Thornton Lacey were completed— perhaps within a fortnight; he talked of going, he loved to talk of it; and when once with her again, Fanny could not doubt the rest.  (source)
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