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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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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
Ben Weiss, Fortune, 18 Feb. 2026
Its drug, called COMP360, could be the first psilocybin product on the market and the second psychedelic approved after Johnson & Johnson’s Spravato, a ketamine derivative.
—Elaine Chen, STAT, 17 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
Kraken’s acquisition of Magna also comes as crypto exchanges more broadly look to expand their product offerings beyond the trading of cryptocurrencies to a larger suite of financial assets, like derivatives and stocks.
—Ben Weiss, Fortune, 18 Feb. 2026
Its drug, called COMP360, could be the first psilocybin product on the market and the second psychedelic approved after Johnson & Johnson’s Spravato, a ketamine derivative.
—Elaine Chen, STAT, 17 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for derivative
Recent Examples of Synonyms for derivative
Adjective
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And while sports will be a secondary concern to those in the Middle East this week, the conflict has triggered fresh doubts over Iran’s participation in the competition, with the country involved in escalating violence following strikes by the United States and Israel.—
Ben Church,
CNN Money,
3 Mar. 2026
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Based on the 1928 original, the watch features a solid gold dial with an aperture that displays jumping hours at 12 o’clock and a secondary aperture that shows dragging minutes.—
Rachel Cormack,
Robb Report,
2 Mar. 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 4 Mar. 2026.
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