relative to(redirected from relative)
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Related to relative: Relative term
relative to someone or something
1. concerning someone or something. I have something to say relative to Bill. Do you have any information relative to the situation in South America?
2. in proportion to someone or something. My happiness is relative to yours. I can spend an amount of money relative to the amount of money I earn.
Correspondent or proportionate to, as in Relative to its size, Boston has a great many universities, or It's important to get all the facts relative to the collision. Another form of this idiom is in or with relation to , meaning "in reference or with regard to," as in Demand is high in relation to supply, or That argument changes nothing with relation to our plans for hiring workers. The usages with relative date from the second half of the 1700s, those with relation from the late 1500s.