| 释义 |
relative, a. and n.|ˈrɛlətɪv|
[ad. F. relatif, -ive (13th c.), or L. relātīv-us: see relate v. and -ive.]
A. adj.
1. Gram. Relating or referring to an antecedent term; esp. relative pronoun.
1530Palsgr. 81 Of the pronownes relatives qui..serveth indifferently for all gendres and nombres. 1552Huloet, Relatiue or whiche hathe relation to a thynge precedyng, relatiuus. 1696Phillips, Pronoun, a Part of Speech..of which there are Four Sorts, Personal,..Relative [etc.]. 1762Kames Elem. Crit. xviii. (1833) 268 In a natural style, relative words are by juxtaposition connected with those to which they relate. 1845Stoddart Gram. in Encycl. Metrop. (1847) I. 66/1 The Greek had only the relative Article ὁ, ἡ, τὸ, and was entirely destitute of our positive Article. 1872Morris Eng. Accid. xii. §188 The relative pronouns are who, which, that, as. In OE. who, which, what, were not relative, but interrogative pronouns.
2. a. Having mutual relationship; related to, or connected with, each other; † correlative.
1594Blundevil Exerc. i. xvi. (1636) 41 The Relative [numbers] are those which have relation one to another. 1662Hobbes Consid. 21 Protection and Obedience are Relative. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XII. 187/1 The relative modes are such as the composer interweaves with the principal in the flow of the harmony. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. II. 146 Several different, yet relative designs.
b. Corresponding.
1849Ruskin Sev. Lamps iii. §9. 71 The square and circle..with their relative solids the cube and sphere.
c. Mus. (See quots. and B. 2 c.)
1818Busby Gram. Mus. 133 [A transition] from the major scale to its relative minor. 1848Mus. Times II. 104 The signature of Do minor is the same as that of Mi♭ major, which is therefore called its relative major. 1875Ouseley Harmony v. 69 Every major key has a minor key connected with it, called its ‘relative minor’.
3. a. Having relation to the question or matter in hand; pertinent, relevant.
1602Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 633 Ile haue grounds More Relatiue then this. 1676I. Mather K. Philip's War (1862) 161 There are judicious persons, who upon the consideration of some relative circumstances,.. have concluded [etc.]. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) II. iv. 272 Giving his answers in such ambiguous terms that let the event be what it would they contained a relative meaning. 1809Southey Lett. (1856) II. 157 All relative matter, not absolutely essential to the subject, should go in the form of supplementary notes. 1866Daily News 12 Feb. 5/6, I would give no credit to such an assumption without some more relative and positive proof.
†b. Of a person: Concerned in a thing. Obs.—1
a1613Overbury A Wife, etc. (1638) 102 She is relative in all; and he without her, but halfe himself.
4. a. Arising from, depending on, or determined by, relation to something else or to each other; comparative.
1611Florio Dict., Rules for Italian Tongue 641 The second respectiue, relatiue, or limited Preterimperfect tence, which doth euer eyther expressiuely or inclusiuely answere or regard the former. 1673S'too him Bayes 37 No more does it follow that Geneva..must change from North to South, the place of her Relative Situation. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §235 They were..so marked, that..they could again be restored to the same relative position. 1822J. Imison Sc. & Art I. 447 Relative motion is the degree and direction of the motion of one body, when compared with that of another. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. xv. 308 The point to be decided is the relative importance of his idea. 1881Westcott & Hort Grk. Test. Introd. §39 Relative date affords a valuable presumption as to relative freedom from corruption.
b. Constituted, or existing, only by relation to something else; not absolute or independent.
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Specifick Gravity... By some 'tis not improperly called Relative Gravity, to distinguish it from Absolute Gravity. 1763J. Brown Poetry & Mus. v. 75 Melody therefore is to be considered as a relative thing, founded in the particular Associations and Habits of each People. 1826Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1838) III. 55 Certainty is positive, evidence relative. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 238 A votary of that famous philosophy in which all things are said to be relative.
5. a. Of worship: Offered indirectly by means of or through an image.
1660Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. ii. ii. rule 6 §41 However any man may intend to pass the relative honour that way, yet no man hath any warrant that God will accept it. 1686tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 98 They adore 'em not with a Relative Adoration, but pay their Devotion to the Material Substance. 1833G. S. Faber Recapit. Apostasy 14 The Jews and Mohammedans..derived from the Law and the Koran an immortal hatred to graven images and all relative worship. 1884Catholic Dict. (1885) 239/1 The same idea is expressed by Cyril of Alexandria when he speaks of the ‘relative veneration and cultus of honour’.
†b. (See quot.) Obs. rare—1.
1710Norris Chr. Prud. i. 2 Truths of importance are relative Truths, that have an Order or Reference to some⁓thing farther.
6. Of terms, etc.: Involving or implying relation; depending for meaning or significance upon some relationship of things or persons.
1678Bunyan Come & Welc. 18 To call God by this relative Title [Father] was rare among the Saints in Old-Testament times. 1696Phillips s.v., In Logick, Relative Terms are when there is a kind of Opposition, yet such a one, that the one cannot be without the other: as Father and Son, Husband and Wife. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Relative Propositions, are those that include some Comparison, add some Relation, thus: Where the Treasure is, there is the Heart. 1843Mill Logic i. ii. §7 A name is relative when, being the name of one thing, its signification cannot be explained but by mentioning another. 1869B. Harte Tennessee's Part. Wks. 1880 II. 135 Tennessee's Partner, whom we never knew by any other than this relative title.
7. a. Having, or standing in, a relation to something else; correspondent or proportionate to.
1660Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. ii. ii. rule 6 §65 If it be a reason that is not relative to times and persons. 1732Pope Ess. Man i. 52 Whatever wrong we call, May, must be right, as relative to all. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §154 The firmness of all the material parts, as relative to the force to be employed. 1866Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xxiii. 595 The market value will always be relative to its demand. 1877E. R. Conder Bas. Faith iv. 141 All knowledge must be relative to mind.
b. In relation or proportion to something.
c1789Gibbon Autobiog. (1896) 268 Naples, the most populous of cities relative to its size.
8. a. Having application or reference to a thing.
1765Harris Three Treat. ii. Note 362 Things relative to immediate Want, such as the grinding of Corn by Mills. 1828Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 238 Certain ideas..relative to their wants and the employment of their organs. 1863H. Cox Instit. iii. v. 658 Powers and duties relative to harbours and navigation.
b. Relating to a matter of fact, event, person, etc.; with reference to.
1763Harris in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 401 The letter relative to Charles's death. 1804Nelson Lett. (1814) II. 62, I write to the Admiralty relative to my health. 1853Lytton My Novel viii. xiii, A letter to Egerton, with whom he wished to consult relative to a very important point.
c. Conveying a reference or allusion to some thing or fact.
1774J. Bryant Mythol. II. 417 The Ox's head with the Egyptian modius between his horns, relative to the circumstances of his history.
9. Special collocations: relative address (Computers), an address (sense 7 c) which is defined only in relation to some other address; hence relative addressing, the practice of using relative addresses; relative density = specific gravity s.v. gravity 4 c; normally defined using water or (for a gas) hydrogen as standard; (cf. quot. 1704 in sense A. 4 b); relative deprivation (Sociol.), deprivation as experienced by a person in respect of opportunities, standard of living, etc., which is relative to the circumstances of the group or society of which he is a member; relative humidity (Meteorol.): see humidity 1; relative pitch: (Mus.), the pitch of a note in relation to another; the ability to recognize or reproduce this; also in extended use in Phonetics; relative sexuality (Biol.) [tr. G. relative sexualität (M. Hartmann 1909, in Arch. f. Protistenkunde XIV. 325)], the phenomenon shown by those species of which an individual or gamete may act as either female or male, according as it is less or more male than its mate.
1956Berkeley & Wainwright Computers viii. 352/2 Relative addresses are translated into absolute addresses by adding some specific ‘reference’ address. 1970O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xix. 312 The relative addresses should be tagged to show that they will later have to be modified.
1966C. J. Sippl Computer Dict. & Handbk. 268/1 Relative addressing is a feature of great significance in multiprogramming, time-sharing, and real time operations. 1967Klerer & Korn Digital Computer User's Handbk. i. 20 Relative addressing is done with addresses that are generated relative to some preset location whose relative address is o.
1879J. D. Everett Units & Physical Constants iv. 30 The relative density of water at various temperatures.., the density at 4°C. being taken as unity. 1892G. F. Barker Physics iii. i. 315 Relative density is the ratio of the absolute density of a gas or vapor to that of air or of hydrogen. 1957A. Efron Basic Physics I. ix. 105 The relative density of lead is 11·3. 1963A. F. Abbott Ord. Level Physics ix. 115 The relative density of a substance is the ratio of the mass of any given volume of it to the mass of an equal volume of water. Numerically, specific gravity and relative density are identical. 1974Folivi & Godman New Certif. Physics ii. 73/1 The ratio of the density of a substance divided by the density of water is the relative density of the substance.
1949S. A. Stouffer et al. Amer. Soldier I. iv. 125 To help explain such variations in attitude, by education, age, and marital condition, a general concept would be useful. Such a concept may be that of relative deprivation. Ibid. 126 The concept of relative deprivation may seem..not to be applicable to the educational differentials in attitude. 1966New Statesman 8 July 55/2 In the expression ‘relative deprivation’, as Runciman uses it, the deprivation is largely imaginary and the emphasis..on the relativity. 1972Dowse & Hughes Polit. Sociol. xiii. 411 When they cannot achieve these values..dissatisfaction, anger and often aggression occur. This type of situation is a quite usual one in any complex society and is termed ‘relative deprivation’, which may be defined as ‘The tension that develops from a discrepancy between the ‘ought’ and the ‘ is’ of collective value satisfaction’.
1926D. C. Miller Sci. of Mus. Sounds vii. 216 Many writers on the subject have held that the quality of a vowel, as well as that of a musical instrument, is characterized by a particular series of overtones accompanying a given fundamental, the pitches of the overtones varying with that of the fundamental, so that the ratios remain constant; this is the relative-pitch theory. 1929Melody Maker Mar. 300/3 A person enjoying the ability to determine the interval between two or more musical sounds is said to possess Relative Pitch. 1933L. Bloomfield Language vii. 117 The Japanese language is said to distinguish two relative pitches, normal and higher. 1949R.-M. S. Heffner Gen. Phonetics vii. 213 It is the relative pitch of speech sounds which is a linguistic means of differentiation between meanings. 1969H. L. Smith in A. A. Hill Linguistics Today ix. 94 The four relative levels of stress in English.., the four relative pitch heights.., and the four junctures or transitions..form three independent but interdependent systems of prosodic or suprasegmental phonemes. 1977Proc. R. Soc. Med. LXX. 134/1 There is a continuum of skills which ranges from ‘tone deafness’, through ‘relative pitch’, to ‘absolute pitch’... Most people have relative pitch, in so far as they are able to say, when given a certain reference tone, that a second sound is higher or lower in pitch.
1948F. E. Fritsch Struct. & Reprod. Algae 327 Relative sexuality, in which one thread [of Spirogyra] behaves respectively as male and female to two others, is also on record. 1967E. Steiner tr. Esger & Kuenen's Genetics of Fungi ii. 96 In the light of recent work certain older data are no longer to be interpreted as relative sexuality.
B. n.
1. Gram.
a. A relative word; esp. a relative pronoun. Also fig. (quot. 1393).
1388Wyclif Prol. 57 A relatif, which mai be resoluid into his antecedent with a coniunccioun copulatif. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. iv. 357 Man ys relatif rect yf he be ryht trewe. 1520Whitinton Vulg. (1527) 2 The relatyue of substaunce shall accorde with his antecedent. 1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 148 He appealeth to the grammarian for the nature of a Relatiue. 1658Evelyn Diary 27 Jan., The government and use of relatives, verbs, substantives. 1762R. Lowth Introd. Eng. Gram. 103 Who, which, what, and the Relative that,..are always placed before the Verb. 1824L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 5) I. 194 Relatives are not so useful in language, as conjunctions. 1875Whitney Life Lang. v. 96 The relatives..are an agency we could hardly afford to miss.
†b. Applied to a demonstrative pronoun. Obs.—1
1677Cary Chronol. 235 Jochanan begat Azariah; he it is that Executed the Priests Office, &c. This Relative [He] may have reference either to Jochanan, or Azariah.
2. a. A thing († or person) standing in some relation to another.
1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 3057 Thys..ys the ryght-ful relatyff, To whom, with-oute noyse or stryff, Thow art soget. 1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent 408 After the husbande and the wife, there followeth..the childe and his Gardein, whom also (since they be Relatiues, as the other be..) [etc.]. 1606Warner Alb. Eng. xv. c. 394 Religion and Subiection be each th' others Relatiue. 1660Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. ii. ii. rule 1 §11 The band of marriage is Eternal, but it dies with either of the relatives. 1784J. Barry in Lect. Paint. ii. (1848) 93 The mere..opposition of the several colours, proper to his object, and to the relatives which accompanied it. 1862Spencer First Princ. i. iv. §24 (1867) 81 An Absolute which existed not alone but along with other Absolutes, would no longer be an absolute but a relative.
b. A relative term. (See A. 6.)
1551T. Wilson Logike 22 b, Relatiues are those, whiche are comprehended with other, or the whiche are named, one with another, and (as a man would say) haue a mutuall respect, one to another. 1588Fraunce Lawiers Log. i. xi. 48 Relatiues are contraries,..yet there may bee in other respects a mutuall consent and reciprocall relation betweene them, wherevpon they bee called Relatiues, as father, sonne, husband, wife, &c. 1648Milton Tenure Kings (1649) 31 We know that King and Subject are relatives, and relatives have no longer being then in the relation. 1697J. Sergeant Solid Philos. 252 Some Terms which seem Absolute are Relatives. 1855Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. (1859) II. 536 Thus relatives are severally discriminated; inasmuch as the one is specially what is referred, the other specially what is referred to.
c. Mus. (See quots. and A. 2 c.)
1811Busby Dict. Mus. (ed. 3) s.v., Every major-key is called the relative of such minor key, and every minor-key the relative of its third above, taken in the major-mode. 1818― Gram. Mus. 51 Major and Minor keys thus agreeing, are denominated relatives.
3. One who is connected with another or others by blood or affinity; a kinsman. Cf. relation 5 c.
1657Gaule Sap. Just. 43 In respect of proximate Parents and of relatives yet living. 1660Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. ii. ii. rule 3 §76 Cosens would do better not to marry (says another)..that one person may not be a double Relative. a1703Pomfret Prospect Death 81 Our friends and relatives stand weeping by, Dissolv'd in tears, to see us die. 1793Minstrel I. 24 St. Julian was..a relative to the duchess of York. 1825Thirlwall Crit. Ess. 125 While he is yet speaking his relatives are announced to him. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xvii. 121 He had received intelligence of the death of a near relative.
transf.1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxiii. 305 Flitting and hovering.., like their relatives..Mother Carey's chickens.
†4. A relationship. Obs. rare.
1657L. Gatford in E. D. Neill Virginia Carolorum (1886) 278 A practice..abominated of all men that know either what men are,..or what their relatives are, either natural, civil, or Christian. 1675Art Contentment v. vi, We attacque him in all his concerns,..in his honor, in his relatives, nay somtimes in his very essence and being.
5. the relative, that which is relative (in sense 4 b of the adj.).
1856Ferrier Inst. Metaph. xix. 367 Objects, whatever they may be, are the relative in cognition. 1859J. Martineau Ess. (1866) I. 78 We cannot operate backward from the relative to the absolute. |