as in secondary
taken or created from something original or basic
a derivative style taken from earlier painters
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of derivative
Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 16 Jan. 2026
Texas’ governance reforms, including the derivative threshold, were crafted precisely to address that imbalance.
—Shane Goodwin, Fortune, 8 Jan. 2026
Tim Pitt, Robb Report, 14 Feb. 2026
The global market capitalization of all coins has shed more than $2 trillion in that time, and fewer and fewer traders are dabbling in meme coins and derivatives.
—Will Gottsegen, The Atlantic, 11 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for derivative
Adjective
These commands are executed by a low-level proportional-derivative controller running at 100 Hz to ensure stable and accurate motion.
—Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 16 Jan. 2026
Texas’ governance reforms, including the derivative threshold, were crafted precisely to address that imbalance.
—Shane Goodwin, Fortune, 8 Jan. 2026
Noun
The gearbox demands care until the oil warms, but the V-8 engine—a derivative of which found its way into the Ferrari F430—responds instantly and pulls eagerly for revs.
—Tim Pitt, Robb Report, 14 Feb. 2026
The global market capitalization of all coins has shed more than $2 trillion in that time, and fewer and fewer traders are dabbling in meme coins and derivatives.
—Will Gottsegen, The Atlantic, 11 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for derivative
Recent Examples of Synonyms for derivative
Adjective
-
The secondary entrance is on Rio Salado Parkway at Lakeside Drive.—
Ed Masley,
AZCentral.com,
16 Feb. 2026
-
Montgomery was among the players working on fundamentals such as secondary leads on the bases before taking a few cuts in the cages.—
LaMond Pope,
Chicago Tribune,
16 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
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
-
Bose found a stronger mathematical derivation of Planck’s law.—
Matt von Hippel,
Quanta Magazine,
23 June 2025
Noun
-
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
-
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 21 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
