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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of derivative
Tim Reynolds, Fortune, 3 Oct. 2025
Pending review of the documents, the two groups could file a derivative lawsuit, which allows shareholders to act on behalf of a company and sue the corporation’s own directors and officers, as well as other third parties who may have harmed the company.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 25 Sep. 2025
Brittany Lubeck, Verywell Health, 22 Oct. 2025
Eventually, Tesla officials promised that more affordable EVs would arrive in the form of derivatives of its existing cars, but surely the world was hoping for something more than manual side-view mirrors.
—Patrick George, The Atlantic, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for derivative
Adjective
Companies should track short interest levels and derivative trading around the time of the short report.
—Tim Reynolds, Fortune, 3 Oct. 2025
Pending review of the documents, the two groups could file a derivative lawsuit, which allows shareholders to act on behalf of a company and sue the corporation’s own directors and officers, as well as other third parties who may have harmed the company.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 25 Sep. 2025
Noun
Sugar alcohols are derivatives of sugar that have been chemically changed.
—Brittany Lubeck, Verywell Health, 22 Oct. 2025
Eventually, Tesla officials promised that more affordable EVs would arrive in the form of derivatives of its existing cars, but surely the world was hoping for something more than manual side-view mirrors.
—Patrick George, The Atlantic, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for derivative
Recent Examples of Synonyms for derivative
Adjective
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Firms listed in mainland China, including home appliance manufacturer Midea and battery-maker CATL, have launched secondary listings in Hong Kong in order to draw international investment.—
Sydney Lake,
Fortune,
6 Nov. 2025
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Obviously, Coop — incredible player and somebody who can play really anywhere in the secondary.—
Brooks Kubena,
New York Times,
5 Nov. 2025
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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Deutsche Börse, which runs the Frankfurt Stock Exchange from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. local time five days a week for derivates and structured products, echoed Euronext.—
Ganesh Rao,Jenni Reid,
CNBC,
22 July 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 9 Nov. 2025.
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