DERIVATIVE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Derivative

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/dərˈɪvətɪv/ /dərˈɪvɪtɪv/ Listen

noun

Derivative n.

1.

That which is derived; anything obtained or deduced from another.

2.

(Gram.) A word formed from another word, by a prefix or suffix, an internal modification, or some other change; a word which takes its origin from a root.

3.

(Mus.) A chord, not fundamental, but obtained from another by inversion; or, vice versa, a ground tone or root implied in its harmonics in an actual chord.

4.

(Med.) An agent which is adapted to produce a derivation (in the medical sense).

5.

(Math.) A derived function; a function obtained from a given function by a certain algebraic process. Note: Except in the mode of derivation the derivative is the same as the differential coefficient. See Differential coefficient, under Differential.

6.

(Chem.) A substance so related to another substance by modification or partial substitution as to be regarded as derived from it; thus, the amido compounds are derivatives of ammonia, and the hydrocarbons are derivatives of methane, benzene, etc.

adjective

Derivative adj.

1.

Obtained by derivation; derived; not radical, original, or fundamental; originating, deduced, or formed from something else; secondary; as, a derivative conveyance; a derivative word.

2.

Hence, unoriginal (said of art or other intellectual products.

Derivative circulation, a modification of the circulation found in some parts of the body, in which the arteries empty directly into the veins without the interposition of capillaries.

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Etymology of 'Derivative'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Derivative" Quotes from Famous Books

... Spirit of his Son into your hearts." This sending is accomplished by the preaching of the Gospel through which the Holy Spirit inspires us with fervor and light, with new judgment, new desires, and new motives. This happy innovation is not a derivative of reason or personal development, but solely the gift and operation of the ...

— Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians • Martin Luther

... subject for a critical investigation into false simplicity. He would repay a very close analysis, for he may deceive the elect in the same way as, we suppose, he deceives himself. His poem 'Rivers' seems to us a very curious example of the faux bon. Not only is the idea derivative, but the rhythmical treatment also. Here is Mr de ...

— Aspects of Literature • J. Middleton Murry

... as we actually discover it in our own minds, or investigate the history of its genesis, we alike find, as we might have antecedently expected, that it is dependent on our more ultimate idea of mind as mind; the conception of causality is not, as a matter of fact, original or primal, but derivative or secondary. Therefore, if this conception necessarily involves the postulation of a first cause, there can be no doubt that such a cause can only be conceived as of the nature of mind. From which it follows that each individual mind requires to be regarded—if it is regarded at all—as of ...

— Mind and Motion and Monism • George John Romanes

... like this, once set up, implies thereafter innumerable other differences which naturally flow from it. Some of them are extremely remote and derivative. Take, for example, the case of writing and printing. Why do these run from left to right? At first sight such a practice seems clearly contrary to the instinctive tendency I noticed above—the tendency to draw from right to left, in accordance ...

— Falling in Love - With Other Essays on More Exact Branches of Science • Grant Allen

... to win a cheap repute for learning, and over-ride inquiry by the mysterious letters Sax. or Ang.-Sax. tacked on to his exposition of an obscure word. There is no such Saxon vocable as dare, to stare. Again, what more frequent blunder than to confound a secondary and derivative sense of a word with its radical and primary—indeed, sometimes to allow the former to usurp the precedence, and at length altogether oust the latter: hence it comes to pass, that we find dare is one while said to imply peeping and prying, another while ...

— Notes and Queries, Number 188, June 4, 1853 • Various

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