All 4 Uses of
relative
in
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- Like most self-pitying people, I had very little pity for my relatives' anxiety.†
p. 114.4 *relatives = people related by blood or marriage
- She was a country girl about four years older than Bailey (he wasn't quite eleven when they met) whose parents had died and she along with her brothers and sisters had been parceled out to relatives.†
p. 147.7
- Give two references (not relatives).†
p. 269.6
- For a while I was punished for being so uppity that I wouldn't speak; and then came the thrashings, given by any relative who felt himself offended.†
p. 88.5 *
Definitions:
-
(1)
(relative as in: the relative importance) compared with something else (not an absolute value or not complete)
-
(2)
(relative as in: they are relatives) connectedin various senses, including:
- a person related by blood or marriage -- as in "The hospital won't let me visit her because I'm not a relative."
- a plant or animal related by origin or grouping -- "The closest relative of the dog is the gray wolf."
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(3)
(relative as in: questions relative to the topic) related to