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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Recent Examples of derivative
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 11 Apr. 2026
Elsewhere, Phillips 66 is facing nearly $1 billion in losses from a short position in oil and other commodity derivative contracts, after the war sent fuel prices skyrocketing.
—Marcus Wright, Bloomberg, 7 Apr. 2026
Savio Shetty, Bloomberg, 21 Apr. 2026
As part of efforts to strengthen supply chains, Lee said that South Korea plans to increase import of naphtha, a crude-oil derivative, from India to cushion potential disruptions linked to tensions in the Middle East.
—ABC News, 20 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for derivative
Adjective
But shark movies, because of that derivative quality (and because the directors are not Spielberg), often tend to be dreary and claustrophobic affairs.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 11 Apr. 2026
Elsewhere, Phillips 66 is facing nearly $1 billion in losses from a short position in oil and other commodity derivative contracts, after the war sent fuel prices skyrocketing.
—Marcus Wright, Bloomberg, 7 Apr. 2026
Noun
The bourse in 2025 was said to be seeking to launch the derivatives as soon as the first half of this year.
—Savio Shetty, Bloomberg, 21 Apr. 2026
As part of efforts to strengthen supply chains, Lee said that South Korea plans to increase import of naphtha, a crude-oil derivative, from India to cushion potential disruptions linked to tensions in the Middle East.
—ABC News, 20 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for derivative
Recent Examples of Synonyms for derivative
Adjective
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Yet another secondary effect of the Iran war is the expansion of modern drone warfare to the Persian Gulf region.—
Sudarsan Raghavan,
New Yorker,
28 Apr. 2026
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The club wanted to offer the 37-year-old Polish striker reduced terms with a secondary role while Lewandowski was waiting to see what the club’s sporting directors would offer him.—
Laia Cervelló Herrero,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Five years after he was killed, in response to political unrest, the government increased the derivation fund to 13 percent for oil-producing states.—
Noo Saro-Wiwa,
The Dial,
24 Mar. 2026
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Large Language Models often struggle with precise derivations and calculations in theoretical physics, sometimes exhibiting inconsistent reasoning.—
Paul Sutter,
Space.com,
22 Mar. 2026
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 1 May. 2026.
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