derivative
noun
de·riv·a·tive
| \ di-ˈri-və-tiv
\
\
Definition of derivative
(Entry 1 of 2)
1
linguistics
: a word formed from another word or base : a word formed by derivation
"pointy," "pointed," and other derivatives of "point"
2
: something derived
… the sonata form (itself a derivative of opera) …— Kingsley Martin the name "Mia" is a derivative of "Maria"
3
mathematics
: the limit of the ratio of the change in a function to the corresponding change in its independent variable as the latter change approaches zero
4 chemistry
a
: a chemical substance related structurally to another substance and theoretically derivable from it
b
: a substance that can be made from another substance
Petroleum is a derivative of coal tar. soybean derivatives
5
: a contract or security (see security sense 3) that derives its value from that of an underlying asset (such as another security) or from the value of a rate (as of interest or currency exchange) or index (see index entry 1 sense 1b) of asset value (such as a stock index)
derivative
adjectiveDefinition of derivative (Entry 2 of 2)
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Synonyms & Antonyms for derivative
Synonyms: Noun
by-product, derivate, derivation, offshoot, outgrowth, spin-off
Synonyms: Adjective
Antonyms: Noun
Antonyms: Adjective
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Examples of derivative in a Sentence
Noun
The word “childish” is a derivative of “child.” Tofu is one of many soybean derivatives. Petroleum is a derivative of coal tar.Adjective
A number of critics found the film derivative and predictable. His style seems too derivative of Hemingway.
Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
These ingredients, which include retinol, retinal, and adapalene (Differin), are all derivatives of vitamin A that are thought to speed up the cell turnover process. — Sara Coughlin, SELF, "How to Treat Closed Comedones, the Acne You Didn’t Know You Had," 1 Aug. 2019 The 6th, 7th, 8th, and imminent 9th generation processors all (except for some rare 8th generation parts) use cores that are close derivatives of the Skylake design, with each new generation bumping up clock speeds and core counts a little. — Peter Bright, Ars Technica, "Leaked benchmarks show Intel is dropping hyperthreading from i7 chips," 25 July 2018 An Act Increasing the Penalties for the Sale of Fentanyl, would increase penalties for the dealing and manufacturing of fentanyl and its derivatives adding them to the same category as heroin. — courant.com, "Community News For The Colchester Edition," 7 June 2019 Until the financial crisis, Deutsche Bank generated much of its profit from high-risk businesses, such as issuing and trading derivatives. — Jack Ewing, BostonGlobe.com, "Long-ailing Deutsche Bank will lose 18,000 jobs in overhaul," 7 July 2019 Dave Arbetter says the thing that makes Arbetter’s unique is chili that isn’t traditional chili, but rather a derivative of an Italian Sunday gravy (meat sauce) from his immigrant mother’s family. — Michael Mayo, sun-sentinel.com, "Hot dog! 100 years of wieners at Hot Dog Heaven in Fort Lauderdale and Arbetter’s in Miami," 2 July 2019 And on that note, is one derivative better than another? — Sarah Jacoby, SELF, "What Do I Need to Look for in a Vitamin C Serum?," 27 June 2019 The software for this smart pulley (made by Vernier) takes a numerical derivative of the data to also give velocity. — Rhett Allain, WIRED, "Post-Apocalyptic Survival Skills: How to Measure Acceleration," 10 June 2019 Clearing houses should move faster to base their rules on SOFR, which would foster demand for derivatives. — The Economist, "LIBOR is due to die in 2021. Hurry up and drop it, say regulators," 8 June 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective
Harris didn’t offer a cost estimate but proposed to help pay for her program with a 0.2% tax on Wall Street stock trades, a 0.1% tax on bond trades and a 0.002% tax on derivative transactions. — Bloomberg, The Mercury News, "Kamala Harris unveils ‘Medicare for All’ plan that preserves private insurance," 29 July 2019 Harris would raise that threshold to $100,000, and pay for the difference with a 0.2 percent tax on all stock trades, a 0.1 percent tax on all bond trades, and a .002 percent tax on derivative transactions. — The Washington Post, cleveland.com, "Harris announces her plan for Medicare-for-all," 29 July 2019 To make up the revenue difference, Harris proposes a 0.2% tax on stock trades, a 0.1% tax on bond trades and 0.002% tax on derivative transactions, as well as eliminating foreign tax shelters. — Tal Kopan, SFChronicle.com, "Kamala Harris unveils Medicare for All plan ahead of Democratic debate," 29 July 2019 In place of that middle-class tax hike, Harris is proposing a Wall Street tax that would tax stock trades at 0.2% and derivative transactions at .002%. — Stephanie Ramirez, CBS News, "Kamala Harris releases "Medicare for all" proposal ahead of second Democratic debate," 29 July 2019 And so, in the mid-‘00s, Pence began collecting flyers, photographs, records, tour merch and other artifacts from Baltimore’s punk and derivative subcultures. — Sameer Rao, baltimoresun.com, "One man’s story story of Baltimore punk rock in 5 artifacts," 31 July 2019 In the 1920s, his penchant for calculus combined with patient observations of helmsmen steering US battleships allowed Minorisky to figure out the mathematical theory behind proportional-integral-derivative control, or PID. — Megan Molteni, WIRED, "Scientists Can Finally Build Feedback Circuits in Cells," 26 July 2019 Unfortunately, that narrative is largely kicked to the back burner after the show’s first episode in favor of a series of even more derivative Star Trek-style episodic conflicts. — Samantha Nelson, The Verge, "Netflix’s Another Life starts as Arrival, then turns into Star Trek," 23 July 2019 The more that individualism can be portrayed as a chimera, the more that any individual’s achievements can be considered as derivative from society, the less the achievements warrant respect. — George Will, Twin Cities, "George Will: Is the individual obsolete?," 17 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'derivative.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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