Relative vs Specific - What's the difference?
relative | specific |
Connected to or depending on something else; comparative.
* 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “
Expressed in relation to another item, rather than in complete form.
(grammar) That relates to an antecedent.
(music) Having the same key but differing in being major or minor.
Relevant; pertinent; related.
Capable to be changed by other beings or circumstance; conditional.
Someone in the same family; someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption.
(linguistics) A type of adjective that inflects like a relative clause, rather than a true adjective, in certain Bantu languages.
explicit or definite
(sciences) Pertaining to a species.
*2008 , (Richard Dawkins), The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing , Oxford 2009, p. 3:
*:Science and literature, then, are the two achievements of Homo sapiens that most convincingly justify the specific name.
(taxonomy) pertaining to a taxon at the rank of species
special, distinctive or unique
intended for, or applying to a particular thing
being a remedy for a particular disease
* Coleridge
(immunology) limited to a particular antibody or antigen
(physics) of a value divided by mass (e.g. specific orbital energy)
(physics) similarly referring to a value divided by any measure which acts to standardize it (e.g. thrust specific fuel consumption, referring to fuel consumption divided by thrust)
(physics) a measure compared with a standard reference value by division, to produce a ratio without unit or dimension (e.g. specific refractive index is a pure number, and is relative to that of air)
A distinguishing attribute or quality.
Something particularly adapted for a particular use, as a remedy for a particular disorder
Specification
(in the plural) The details; particulars.
As adjectives the difference between relative and specific
is that relative is connected to or depending on something else; comparative while specific is explicit or definite.As nouns the difference between relative and specific
is that relative is someone in the same family; someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption while specific is a distinguishing attribute or quality.relative
English
Adjective
(-)Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, BBC Sport:
- For Liverpool, their season will now be regarded as a relative disappointment after failure to add the FA Cup to the Carling Cup and not mounting a challenge to reach the Champions League places.
- ''The relative URL /images/pic.jpg, when evaluated in the context of http&
- x3A;//example.com/docs/pic.html, corresponds to the absolute URL http://example.com/images/pic.jpg.
- relative to your earlier point about taxes, ...
Synonyms
* comparative * conditional * limitedAntonyms
* absolute * unlimitedDerived terms
* relative toNoun
(en noun)- Why do my relatives always talk about sex?
Synonyms
* See alsoSee also
* aunt * brother * cousin * father * godparent * grandchild * granddaughter * grandson * great-grandchild * great-grandparent * in-law * mother * niece * nephew * parent * refer * referral * sister * stepdaughter * stepson * uncleAnagrams
* ----specific
English
Alternative forms
* specifick (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)- Quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria.
- In fact, all medicines will be found specific in the perfection of the science.