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derivation

 - 2 dictionary results

der⋅i⋅va⋅tion

  [der-uh-vey-shuhn]
Use derivation in a Sentence
–noun
1. the act or fact of deriving or of being derived.
2. the process of deriving.
3. the source from which something is derived; origin.
4. something that is or has been derived; derivative.
5. Mathematics.
a. development of a theorem.
b. differentiation.
6. Grammar.
a. the process or device of adding affixes to or changing the shape of a base, thereby assigning the result to a form class that may undergo further inflection or participate in different syntactic constructions, as in forming service from serve, song from sing, and hardness from hard (contrasted with inflection ).
b. the systematic description of such processes in a given language.
7. Linguistics.
a. a set of forms, including the initial form, intermediate forms, and final form, showing the successive stages in the generation of a sentence as the rules of a generative grammar are applied to it.
b. the process by which such a set of forms is derived.
Origin:
1375–1425; late ME derivacioun < L dērīvātiōn- (s. of dērīvātiō) a turning away, equiv. to dērīvāt(us) (ptp. of dērīvāre; see derive, -ate 1 ) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms:
der⋅i⋅va⋅tion⋅al, adjective
der⋅i⋅va⋅tion⋅al⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To derivation
der·i·va·tion   (děr'ə-vā'shən)   
n.  

  1. The act or process of deriving.

  2. The state or fact of being derived; originating: a custom of recent derivation.

  3. Something derived; a derivative.

  4. The form or source from which something is derived; an origin.

  5. The historical origin and development of a word; an etymology.

  6. Linguistics

    1. The process by which words are formed from existing words or bases by adding affixes, as singer from sing or undo from do, by changing the shape of the word or base, as song from sing, or by adding an affix and changing the pronunciation of the word or base, as electricity from electric.

    2. A linguistic description of the process of word formation.

    3. In generative linguistics, the process by which a surface structure is generated from a deep structure.

    4. A formal representation or description of the series of ordered linguistic rules and operations that generate a surface structure from a deep structure.

  7. Logic & Mathematics A logical or mathematical process indicating through a sequence of statements that a result such as a theorem or a formula necessarily follows from the initial assumptions.

der'i·va'tion·al adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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