relatively
adverb
Form of relative , adverb of relative.
Simple meaning
When compared with other things; fairly.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rehluhtihvleeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹɛlətɪvli
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adverb
In a relative manner; by comparison to something else
“The situation is relatively calm now.”
In a relative manner; with reference to environment or competition; contextually or comparatively.
sometimes proscribed
Somewhat; fairly.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: In a relative manner; by comparison to something else
Used this way, relatively is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The situation is relatively calm now.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use relatively
- “The situation is relatively calm now.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Estimated by comparison.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.