as in secondary
taken or created from something original or basic
a derivative style taken from earlier painters
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in derivation
something that naturally develops or is developed from something else
the whole field of industrial robots is a derivative of technology developed for the space program
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Recent Examples of derivative
Shane Goodwin, Fortune, 8 Jan. 2026
McNaughton’s derivative style sharpens the contrast.
—Philip Martin, Washington Post, 7 Jan. 2026
Ben Weiss, Fortune, 12 Jan. 2026
The second lawsuit, filed by Kiaran Shadowbolt in late December, is a federal derivatives complaint, an attempt to sue Firefly executives and board members on behalf of the company itself, by a shareholder.
—Paul Flahive, Austin American Statesman, 9 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for derivative
Adjective
Tesla shareholders delivered another decisive message through their vote on Tesla’s Texas-style 3% ownership threshold for filing derivative lawsuits.
—Shane Goodwin, Fortune, 8 Jan. 2026
McNaughton’s derivative style sharpens the contrast.
—Philip Martin, Washington Post, 7 Jan. 2026
Noun
That includes Novakovski, who has since launched Lighter, his own competing crypto derivatives platform backed by Founders Fund, Ribbit Capital, and David Sacks’ Craft Ventures.
—Ben Weiss, Fortune, 12 Jan. 2026
The second lawsuit, filed by Kiaran Shadowbolt in late December, is a federal derivatives complaint, an attempt to sue Firefly executives and board members on behalf of the company itself, by a shareholder.
—Paul Flahive, Austin American Statesman, 9 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for derivative
Recent Examples of Synonyms for derivative
Adjective
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But if Rubio is serious about breaking China's grip on critical minerals, his summit should devote equal attention to building up the secondary market for recycled materials.—
Kristen Edgreen Kaufman,
Forbes.com,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Now, crews can focus on secondary streets.—
Tom Dougherty,
CBS News,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Silicon Valley dreamt up poor derivations of past cautionary tales and created a monoculture of exploitative social media feeds and predatory data-hungry apps that birthed Orwell’s surveillance state.—
John Lopez,
HollywoodReporter,
21 Oct. 2025
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Bose found a stronger mathematical derivation of Planck’s law.—
Matt von Hippel,
Quanta Magazine,
23 June 2025
Noun
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Wall Street is also taking notice of the chipmaker as a derivate play of Alphabet’s growing AI dominance.—
Pia Singh,
CNBC,
24 Nov. 2025
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With unique enough lore and a unique style, Saxon avoids making a derivate fable.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Variety,
27 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Derivative.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/derivative. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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