derivative
Other forms: derivatives; derivatively
Alert: shifting parts of speech! As a noun, a derivative is kind of financial agreement or deal. As an adjective, though, derivative describes something that borrows heavily from something else that came before it.
In grammar and linguistics, a word that is formed from another word is called a derivative. For example, the word courageous is a derivative of the word courage. In economics, derivatives are deals based on the outcome of other deals. A movie plot might be described as derivative if it steals from another film — say, if it lifts the tornado, the witch, and the dancing scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz.
-
a compound obtained from, or regarded as derived from, another compoundtype of:chemical compound, compound(chemistry) a substance formed by chemical union of two or more elements or ingredients in definite proportion by weight
-
the result of mathematical differentiation; the instantaneous change of one quantity relative to another; df(x)/dxtypes:curvaturethe rate of change (at a point) of the angle between a curve and a tangent to the curvepartial, partial derivativethe derivative of a function of two or more variables with respect to a single variable while the other variables are considered to be constanttype of:
-
a financial instrument whose value is based on another securitysynonyms: derivative instrumenttypes:futures contractan agreement to buy or sell a specific amount of a commodity or financial instrument at a particular price on a stipulated future date; the contract can be sold before the settlement dateoptionthe right to buy or sell property at an agreed price; the right is purchased and if it is not exercised by a stated date the money is forfeitednaked optiona put or call option for which the seller or buyer has no underlying security positioncovered optiona put or call option backed by the shares underlying the optioncall, call optionthe option to buy a given stock (or stock index or commodity future) at a given price before a given dateput, put optionthe option to sell a given stock (or stock index or commodity future) at a given price before a given datestraddlethe option to buy or sell a given stock (or stock index or commodity future) at a given price before a given date; consists of an equal number of put and call optionsincentive option, incentive stock optionan option granted to corporate executives if the company achieves certain financial goalsstock-index futuresa futures contract based on a stock index; a bet on the future price of the indexed group of stocksstock optionthe right to buy or sell a stock at a specified price within a stated periodlock-up optionan option to buy the crown jewels offered to a white knight in order to forestall a hostile takeovertype of:instrument, legal document, legal instrument, official document(law) a document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right
-
(linguistics) a word that is derived from another word“`electricity' is a derivative of `electric'”type of:worda unit of language that native speakers can identify
-
resulting from or employing derivation“a derivative process”“a highly derivative prose style”synonyms:derivedformed or developed from something else; not original
- MLA
- APA
- Chicago
Vocabulary lists containing derivative
Looking to build your vocabulary? Then practice this list of 300 "hard words" — the kind that used to be tested on the SAT before 2016. If you're a high school student prepping for the SAT, check out Vocabulary.com's Roadmap to the SAT, which focuses on the vocabulary you'll need to ace today's SAT test.
In this prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy, Coriolanus Snow mentors a tribute in the 10th Hunger Games.
In this engaging work of narrative nonfiction, a serial killer in Chicago hunts his victims in the shadow of the 1893 World's Fair.