How to Use relative in a Sentence

relative

1 of 2 noun
  • The donkey is a relative of the horse.
  • He inherited a small piece of land from a distant relative.
  • At the family reunion, I saw relatives I haven't seen in years.
  • Brown doesn’t seem to mind the steady buzz of relatives.
    Priya Krishna, Southern Living, 9 Nov. 2023
  • And sure enough, she and two of her relatives get kidnapped by the next episode.
    David Zimmermann, National Review, 27 Jan. 2024
  • Talk to some of your friends and relatives and ask for some pointers.
    Abigail Van Buren, cleveland, 28 July 2023
  • On the night of the game, Ponds and her relatives met another group and watched the first 90 minutes of the game in the Pizza Bar.
    Glenn E. Rice, Kansas City Star, 7 Feb. 2024
  • After the vote to send the measure to the House floor, some relatives cheered while others sobbed.
    Jack Douglas, Tim Craig, Alex Horton, Hannah Allam and Brittany Shammas, The Washington Post, Anchorage Daily News, 9 May 2023
  • The city cracked another top 10 list this week, but not the kind to boast about to relatives in other states.
    Joe Marusak, Charlotte Observer, 24 Jan. 2024
  • That could be a hacker, a jealous ex, a relative or even your boss.
    Kim Komando, Fox News, 22 Jan. 2024
  • Hyun’s relative then found what appeared to be a body in the trunk and called 911 on Tuesday night, police said.
    Antonio Planas, NBC News, 14 Sep. 2023
  • The gun belongs to a relative staying with the family, the father told the station.
    Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 17 May 2023
  • Well, the relatives of the hostages are demanding that the Red Cross get in to be able to assess their condition.
    Nbc Universal, NBC News, 3 Dec. 2023
  • The baby, now named Saul, survived his injuries and is now in the care of other relatives.
    Angela Wilson, Peoplemag, 1 May 2023
  • At the time, she was believed to have been three to four months pregnant and had left her 1-year-old daughter with relatives.
    Nicole Acosta, Peoplemag, 5 Dec. 2023
  • Jane Gardner had many items at her garage sale that did not sell at a relative’s estate sale.
    Jdumound, cleveland, 7 Aug. 2023
  • That was three times more likely to have come from the defendant or a male relative from the lineage of the defendant.
    Erin Moriarty, CBS News, 30 Sep. 2023
  • If those so notified have moved or died (their relatives get the letter), they are taken off the roll.
    Tom Switzer, National Review, 18 Oct. 2023
  • The ruling came after a courtroom filled with police and relatives of Irizarry watched about 20 minutes of the body-cam footage.
    Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2023
  • The Isoms are unable to return to what’s left of their home, according to the fundraising site Meal Train, and are staying with relatives.
    Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 30 Dec. 2023
  • At the time, friends and relatives were there to say goodbye to men leaving for military service, per the agency.
    Brenton Blanchet, Peoplemag, 7 May 2023
  • In the courtroom gallery, survivors and victims’ relatives heeded the judge’s request to keep their emotions in check.
    Peter Smith, Anchorage Daily News, 13 July 2023
  • Police said Tuesday that the department has a list of over 120 names of people who want to know if their relatives are among the victims.
    CBS News, 10 May 2023
  • Close relatives and loved ones of the victims and the shooter were informed of the news before the news conference, officials said.
    Phil Helsel, NBC News, 28 Oct. 2023
  • Several of Rodriguez’s relatives could be seen turning away in the gallery, and one woman teared up.
    James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 5 Apr. 2024
  • Efforts to reach relatives of Chavis and Banks were not successful.
    Jasmine Hilton, Washington Post, 7 June 2023
  • The last set of photos showed the Kelly family posing in front of a Christmas tree and with relatives over the 2023 holidays.
    Esme Mazzeo, Peoplemag, 11 Mar. 2024
  • The male relative at the home admitted to the stabbing and was taken into custody, police said.
    Dillon Mullan, Baltimore Sun, 10 June 2023
  • The six defendants are all relatives or friends, Thornton said.
    Carol Robinson | Crobinson@al.com, al, 17 Aug. 2023
  • Many in the community feel anxious about not being able to reach relatives in Tigray.
    Hojun Choi, Dallas News, 14 Sep. 2023
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relative

2 of 2 adjective
  • The phrase “that won” in “the book that won” is a relative clause.
  • We discussed the relative merits of each school.
  • One of the main drawbacks of the Tour Pro 2s is their relative bulk.
    Geoffrey Morrison, wsj.com, 31 Oct. 2023
  • Despite the relative coolness of the evening, McArthur was still hot.
    Meg Bernhard, The New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2023
  • Put on your headphones and let the rest of us enjoy our flight in relative peace.
    Zach Wichter, USA TODAY, 13 Mar. 2024
  • An 11-year-old boy was a relative and visiting at the time.
    Louis Casiano, Fox News, 19 Dec. 2023
  • This allowed thousands of students to leave the square in relative peace.
    Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 17 July 2023
  • That relative return to success, though, has come at a cost.
    Tariq Panja, New York Times, 8 June 2023
  • If the Padres wait until the trade deadline to deal Soto, they’re left with relative crumbs in such a tight window.
    Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Sep. 2023
  • The prospect of streaming big sports events is still in its relative infancy.
    Brian Steinberg, Variety, 20 Mar. 2024
  • For each, this is their first moment of relative freedom on U.S. soil.
    Matt Rivers, ABC News, 22 Sep. 2023
  • The other thing is the cost cap, which is only in its relative infancy.
    Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 15 Mar. 2024
  • These are in relative shade of a witch hazel tree and receive morning sun and ample water.
    oregonlive, 9 July 2023
  • Because of the relative positions of the sun and moon, there are craters around the south pole whose bottoms have never seen sunlight.
    David W. Brown, The New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2024
  • But Benet coach Joe Kilbride is starting Briggs at center due to the team’s relative lack of size.
    Matt Le Cren, Chicago Tribune, 26 Jan. 2024
  • The characters are pulled close, then they are restored to a relative distance.
    Hazlitt, 31 May 2023
  • Moreover, China’s stance on the war in Gaza is an attempt to make a virtue of its relative isolation.
    Mark Leonard, Foreign Affairs, 8 Jan. 2024
  • Looking back, the fact that Quiros was having a relative conduct the project’s finances should have raised questions.
    Sheelah Kolhatkar, The New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2024
  • The premier’s news conference, held at the end of the NPC since the 1980s and one of the few moments of relative openness in the Communist system, has been canceled this year.
    Christian Shepherd, Washington Post, 5 Mar. 2024
  • Stalking about on two legs, the flesh-eater had a long and low skull of curved teeth and likely had short, stout arms tipped in large claws like its later relative Torvosaurus.
    Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Feb. 2024
  • And her Hawkeyes have begun in promising fashion, progressing to the Sweet 16 with relative ease to set up a clash with No. 5 Colorado.
    Ben Morse, CNN, 28 Mar. 2024
  • The relative size of the bulb is perhaps greater than in any other carnivore, the paper says, but this may just be due to the smallness of the bear’s cerebrum (its central brain).
    Matt Hrodey, Discover Magazine, 22 June 2023
  • Also, what is the harm in having your baby have a similar, or exact name as a friend or relative?
    Kristina Behr, Parents, 10 Apr. 2024
  • See if a relative, friend, neighbor or congregation member could pick up groceries, watch the kids for a few hours or cook a meal.
    Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 15 Feb. 2024
  • Working our way back to a relative baseline has come with hiccups, like a huge shift to remote work, and then a semi-return to normal.
    Jane Thier, Fortune, 5 May 2023
  • McPike was a relative newcomer to the Senate, having arrived in 2016.
    Laura Vozzella, Washington Post, 25 June 2023
  • Crow purchased Thomas’ mother’s home and paid private school tuition for a relative Thomas was raising as his son.
    Joshua Kaplan, ProPublica, 13 Nov. 2023
  • The 11-year-old child was a relative and visiting at the time, according to the Bullhead City Police Department.
    Laura Gersony, The Arizona Republic, 3 Jan. 2024
  • Also, about 18 years and 11 days after an eclipse, the sun, Earth and moon will return to about the same relative positions, and a near-identical eclipse will occur.
    Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman, 10 Apr. 2024
  • General Pinochet lived his final years in relative seclusion and died in 2006.
    Pascale Bonnefoy, New York Times, 30 Aug. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'relative.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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