as in secondary
taken or created from something original or basic
a derivative style taken from earlier painters
Synonyms & Similar Words
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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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of derivative
Shane Goodwin, Fortune, 8 Jan. 2026
McNaughton’s derivative style sharpens the contrast.
—Philip Martin, Washington Post, 7 Jan. 2026
Mike Defabo, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2026
Success is a derivative of failure, and transparency around that builds trust.
—Rolling Stone Culture Council, Rolling Stone, 4 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for derivative
Adjective
Tesla shareholders delivered another decisive message through their vote on Tesla’s Texas-style 3% ownership threshold for filing derivative lawsuits.
—Shane Goodwin, Fortune, 8 Jan. 2026
McNaughton’s derivative style sharpens the contrast.
—Philip Martin, Washington Post, 7 Jan. 2026
Noun
The play is a derivative of the Lion (double slant) concept.
—Mike Defabo, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2026
Success is a derivative of failure, and transparency around that builds trust.
—Rolling Stone Culture Council, Rolling Stone, 4 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for derivative
Recent Examples of Synonyms for derivative
Adjective
-
Released in 2023, the watch originally retailed for $61,500, but now costs over $150,000 on the secondary market.—
Rachel Cormack,
Robb Report,
9 Feb. 2026
-
Louisville Metro Police officers are now banned from working secondary jobs for the suburb of Worthington Hills.—
Josh Wood,
Louisville Courier Journal,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Silicon Valley dreamt up poor derivations of past cautionary tales and created a monoculture of exploitative social media feeds and predatory data-hungry apps that birthed Orwell’s surveillance state.—
John Lopez,
HollywoodReporter,
21 Oct. 2025
-
Bose found a stronger mathematical derivation of Planck’s law.—
Matt von Hippel,
Quanta Magazine,
23 June 2025
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 15 Feb. 2026.
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