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
Lora Kolodny, CNBC, 16 July 2025
Elsewhere in the market, big asset managers now want to buy futures contracts, or derivative bets on Treasuries that have the look and feel of a Treasury without necessarily requiring all that cash.
—Mary Childs, Harpers Magazine, 16 July 2025
Hope Karnopp, jsonline.com, 27 July 2025
Perhaps because cannibalism comes with the territory, the zombie movie has proved uncommonly immune to a certain strain of critical attack: the kind that instinctively finds fault with the derivative.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 25 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for derivative
Adjective
On May 14, almost a year after Tesla's move, Texas changed its law to allow corporations in the state to require 3% ownership before being able to carry forth a shareholder derivative suit.
—Lora Kolodny, CNBC, 16 July 2025
Elsewhere in the market, big asset managers now want to buy futures contracts, or derivative bets on Treasuries that have the look and feel of a Treasury without necessarily requiring all that cash.
—Mary Childs, Harpers Magazine, 16 July 2025
Noun
Wisconsin state lawmakers have talked about placing regulations on delta-8 and other hemp derivatives but have introduced no legislation this year to do so.
—Hope Karnopp, jsonline.com, 27 July 2025
Perhaps because cannibalism comes with the territory, the zombie movie has proved uncommonly immune to a certain strain of critical attack: the kind that instinctively finds fault with the derivative.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 25 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for derivative
Recent Examples of Synonyms for derivative
Adjective
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When a company engages in equity transactions, whether issuing employee stock options, facilitating a secondary trade or repurchasing shares, the implications on its valuation can be substantial.—
Meenal Aggarwal,
Forbes.com,
7 Aug. 2025
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But Trump did not rule out applying the new secondary sanctions on Beijing, despite the potential for scuttling the trade discussions.—
Kevin Liptak,
CNN Money,
7 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Labels want systems that can not only detect direct sample reuse but also flag stylistic derivations within generative model outputs.—
Virginie Berger,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2025
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Whether numbers, systems of equations, derivations or geometric objects, everything should spring from a few basic assumptions.—
Manon Bischoff,
Scientific American,
9 May 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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Coinbase bought a crypto derivates exchange, Deribit, for $2.9 billion .—
Morgan Chittum,
CNBC,
16 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Derivative.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/derivative. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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