Search the Dictionary

Not hypothetical or relative; admitting no conditions or exceptions; declarative; absolute; positive; express; as, a categorical proposition, or answer. The scriptures by a multitude of categorical and intelligible decisions . . . distinguish between the things seen and temporal and those that are unseen and eternal. I…

In two figures having relative motion, one of the two curves which are the loci of the instantaneous center.

assages, through which the fluid rises from the overheated portion, and descends from the relatively colder, maintaining a circulation.

To place in a particular situation; to suppy relative incidents. The poet took the matters of fact as they came down to him and circumstanced them, after his own manner. Addison.

That which is earthy and of little relative value, as the body of man in comparison with the soul. This cold clod of clay which we carry about with us. T. Burnet.

Uttered with a relatively contracted opening of the mouth, as certain sounds of e and o in French, Italian, and German; -- opposed to open. Close borough. See under Borough. -- Close breeding. See under Breeding. -- Close communion, communion in the Lord's supper, restricted to those who have received baptism by imme…

Relatives by the mother's side. Wharton.

The relative absence of heat or warmth.

A collateral relative. Ayliffe.

the sights, as the axial line of the telescope of an instrument, into its proper position relative to the other parts of the instrument. Error of collimation, the deviation of the line collimation of an astronomical instrument from the position it ought to have with respect to the axis of motion of the instrument. --…

ankrupty, a commission apointing and empowering certain persons to examine into the facts relative to an alleged bankrupty, and to secure the bankrupt's lands and effects for the creditors. -- Commission of lunacy, a commission authoring and inquiry whether a person is a lunatic or not. -- Commission merchant, one wh…

Relative to exchange; interchangeable; reciprocal. -- Com*mut"a*tive"ly, adv. Rich traders, from their success, are presumed . . . to have cultivated an habitual regard to commutative justice. Burke.

Estimated by comparison; relative; not positive or absolute, as compared with another thing or state. The recurrence of comparative warmth and cold. Whewell. The bubble, by reason of its comparative levity to the fluid that incloses it, would necessarily ascend to the top. Bentley.

According to estimate made by comparison; relatively; not positively or absolutely. With but comparatively few exceptions. Prescott.

tion of two or more objects with the view of discovering the resemblances or differences; relative estimate. As sharp legal practitioners, no class of human beings can bear comparison with them. Macaulay. The miracles of our Lord and those of the Old Testament afford many interesting points of comparison. Trench.…

Form, as depending on the relative disposition of the parts of a thing' shape; figure. It is the variety of configurations [of the mouth] . . . which gives birth and origin to the several vowels. Harris.

The person to whom goods or other things are consigned; a factor; -- correlative to consignor. Consigner and consignee are used by merchants to express generally the shipper of merchandise, and the person to whom it is addressed, by bill of lading or otherwise. De Colange.

ther acts; especially, one who is represented by another in a legislative assembly; -- correlative to representative. The electors in the district of a representative in Congress, or in the legislature of a State, are termed his constituents. Abbot. To appeal from the representatives to the constituents. Macaulay.…

or that which, stands in a reciprocal relation to something else, as father to son; a correlative. South.

A relative from the country visiting the city and unfamiliar with city manners and sights.