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
Lawrence Wintermeyer, Forbes.com, 5 June 2025
On March 1, President Trump launched a Section 232 trade investigation for lumber, timber, and derivative products such as cabinets to save these great American industries.
—Daniel R. Depetris, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 May 2025
Ruxandra Iordache, CNBC, 11 June 2025
The majority of synthetic overdose deaths in the US involve fentanyl or fentanyl derivatives.
—Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 5 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for derivative
Adjective
With liquid staking, once the original token is staked, a derivative Liquid Staking Token (LST) of the same value as the original staked token is issued and can be then re-staked in the DeFi ecosystem for further incentives.
—Lawrence Wintermeyer, Forbes.com, 5 June 2025
On March 1, President Trump launched a Section 232 trade investigation for lumber, timber, and derivative products such as cabinets to save these great American industries.
—Daniel R. Depetris, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 May 2025
Noun
UniCredit has built a surprise stake in Commerzbank of 28% since September through derivatives and has the European Central Bank’s authorization to hold up to 29.9% in the lender.
—Ruxandra Iordache, CNBC, 11 June 2025
The majority of synthetic overdose deaths in the US involve fentanyl or fentanyl derivatives.
—Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 5 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for derivative
Recent Examples of Synonyms for derivative
Adjective
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There’s also the risk of secondary toxicity if a mole comes to the surface, dies, and is eaten by a raptor or other predator.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
21 June 2025
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Ideally, this wouldn’t involve adding just one top-six winger this offseason, but rather adding several pieces to revamp the club’s secondary scoring support up and down the lineup.—
Harman Dayal,
New York Times,
21 June 2025
Noun
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And since the derivation of it was ‘100 men versus a gorilla’ ...—
Yvonne Villarreal,
Los Angeles Times,
28 May 2025
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Prior advancements all came with some sort of asterisk, though; for example, the derivations involved only worked on short timescales, in a vacuum or under other simplifying conditions.—
Jack Murtagh,
Scientific American,
14 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Coinbase bought a crypto derivates exchange, Deribit, for $2.9 billion .—
Morgan Chittum,
CNBC,
16 May 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 Jul. 2025.
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