Relative \Rel"a*tive\ (r?l"?-t?v), a. [F. relatif, L. relativus.
   See Relate.]
   1. Having relation or reference; referring; respecting;
      standing in connection; pertaining; as, arguments not
      relative to the subject.
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            I'll have grounds
            More relative than this.              --Shak.
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   2. Arising from relation; resulting from connection with, or
      reference to, something else; not absolute.
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            Every thing sustains both an absolute and a relative
            capacity: an absolute, as it is such a thing, endued
            with such a nature; and a relative, as it is a part
            of the universe, and so stands in such a relations
            to the whole.                         --South.
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   3. (Gram.) Indicating or expressing relation; refering to an
      antecedent; as, a relative pronoun.
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   4. (Mus.) Characterizing or pertaining to chords and keys,
      which, by reason of the identify of some of their tones,
      admit of a natural transition from one to the other.
      --Moore (Encyc. of Music).
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   Relative clause (Gram.), a clause introduced by a relative
      pronoun.

   Relative term, a term which implies relation to, as
      guardian to ward, matter to servant, husband to wife. Cf.
      Correlative.
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	Relative \Rel"a*tive\, n.
   One who, or that which, relates to, or is considered in its
   relation to, something else; a relative object or term; one
   of two object or term; one of two objects directly connected
   by any relation. Specifically:
   (a) A person connected by blood or affinity; strictly, one
       allied by blood; a relation; a kinsman or kinswoman.
       "Confining our care . . . to ourselves and relatives."
       --Bp. Fell.
   (b) (Gram.) A relative pronoun; a word which relates to, or
       represents, another word or phrase, called its
       antecedent; as, the relatives "who", "which", "that".
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	relative
     adj 1: not absolute or complete; "a relative stranger" [ant: absolute]
     2: properly related in size or degree or other measurable
        characteristics; usually followed by `to'; "punishment
        oughtt to be proportional to the crime"; "earnings
        relative to production" [syn: proportional]
     n 1: a person related by blood or marriage; "police are searching
          for relatives of the deceased"; "he has distant
          relations back in New Jersey" [syn: relation]
     2: an animal or plant that bears a relationship to another (as
        related by common descent or by membership in the same
        genus) [syn: congener, congenator]

	

	114 Moby Thesaurus words for "relative":
   affiliated, affinitive, agnate, allied, analogical, analogous,
   ancestry, appertaining, applicable, approximate, apropos,
   associated, associative, aunt, blood, blood relation,
   blood relative, brother, child, clansman, cognate, collatable,
   collateral, collateral relative, commensurable, commensurate,
   comparable, comparative, conditional, congenial, connected,
   connections, connective, consanguinean, contingent, contingent on,
   correlative, cousin, daughter, dependent on, distaff side,
   distant relation, en rapport, enate, family, father, flesh,
   flesh and blood, folks, german, germane, grandchild, granddaughter,
   grandfather, grandmother, grandparent, grandson, half brother,
   interconnected, interrelated, kin, kindred, kinfolk, kinnery,
   kinsfolk, kinsman, kinsmen, kinswoman, kith and kin, linking,
   matchable, mother, much at one, near, near relation, nephew,
   next of kin, niece, parallel, parent, people, pertaining,
   pertinent, posterity, proportionable, proportional, proportionate,
   referable, referring, related, relating, relation, relational,
   relations, relative to, relatives, relevant, reliant, sib, sibling,
   similar, sister, son, spear kin, spear side, spindle kin,
   spindle side, subject to, subordinate to, sword side, sympathetic,
   tribesman, uncle, uterine kin

	

	RELATIVE
     
        Early system on IBM 650.  Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959).

	

	RELATIVE. One connected with another by blood or affinity; a relation, a 
kinsman or kinswoman. In an adjective sense, having relation or connexion 
with some other person or thing; as relative rights, relative powers.