respectively

adverb

re·​spec·​tive·​ly ri-ˈspek-tiv-lē 

1

: in the order given

My cousin and I were respectively 12 and 16 years old.

2

: in particular : separately

could not recognize the solutions as salty or sour, respectively

Examples of respectively in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The companies, which were paid $59 million and $104 million, respectively, for their work building the new 911 system, said the state could have worked with them to improve the project. —William Melhado, Sacbee.com, 23 Nov. 2025

Today, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are all developing their own custom offerings in both GPUs and CPUs to escape the strongholds respectively of Nvidia and Arm. —Shawn Tully, Fortune, 23 Nov. 2025

Season 1 premiered in November 2022, followed by seasons 2 and 3 in September 2024 and September 2025, respectively. —Christopher Rudolph, PEOPLE, 23 Nov. 2025

Layla Austin and Audree Hughes also thrived with 17 and 15 kills, respectively. —Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1602, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for respectively

• ineffectively
• retrospectively
• affectively
• collectively
• defectively
• effectively
• objectively
• prospectively
• protectively
• reflectively
• selectively
• subjectively

Kids Definition

respectively

adverb

re·​spec·​tive·​ly

ri-ˈspek-tiv-lē

: each in the order given

John and Mary were 12 and 13 years old respectively