correlative

[ kuh-rel-uh-tiv ]
See synonyms for correlative on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. so related that each implies or complements the other.

  2. being in correlation; mutually related.

  1. Grammar. answering to or complementing one another and regularly used in association, as either and or, not only and but.

  2. Biology. (of a typical structure of an organism) found in correlation with another.

noun
  1. either of two things, as two terms, that are correlative.

  2. Grammar. a correlative expression.

Origin of correlative

1
From the Medieval Latin word correlātīvus, dating back to 1520–30. See cor-, relative
  • Also especially British, co·rel·a·tive .

Other words from correlative

  • cor·rel·a·tive·ly, adverb
  • cor·rel·a·tive·ness, cor·rel·a·tiv·i·ty, noun
  • non·cor·rel·a·tive, adjective
  • non·cor·rel·a·tive·ly, adverb
  • non·cor·rel·a·tive·ness, noun
  • un·cor·rel·a·tive, adjective
  • un·cor·rel·a·tive·ly, adverb
  • un·cor·rel·a·tive·ness, noun
  • un·cor·rel·a·tiv·i·ty, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use correlative in a sentence

  • And this correlativity of knowledge and reality finds linguistic confirmation in the terms 'subject' and 'object'.

    Kant's Theory of Knowledge | Harold Arthur Prichard
  • Concerning the strict correlativity of subject and predicate, data and hypothesis, see p. 34.

  • Formal identity and non-contradiction signify, in experimental logic, the complete correlativity of data and hypothesis.

    Creative Intelligence | John Dewey, Addison W. Moore, Harold Chapman Brown, George H. Mead, Boyd H. Bode, Henry Waldgrave, Stuart James, Hayden Tufts, Horace M. Kallen

British Dictionary definitions for correlative

correlative

/ (kɒˈrɛlətɪv) /


adjective
  1. in mutual, complementary, or reciprocal relationship; corresponding

  2. denoting words, usually conjunctions, occurring together though not adjacently in certain grammatical constructions, as for example neither and nor in such sentences as he neither ate nor drank

noun
  1. either of two things that are correlative

  2. a correlative word

Derived forms of correlative

  • correlatively, adverb
  • correlativeness or correlativity, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012