DERIVATIVE. Coming from another; taken from something preceding, secondary; as derivative title, which is that acquired from another person. There is considerable difference between an original and a derivative title. When the acquisition is original, the right thus acquired to the thing becomes property, which must be unqualified and unlimited, and since no one but the occupant has any right to the thing, he must have the whole right of disposing of it. But with regard to derivative acquisition, it may be otherwise, for the person from whom the thing is acquired may not have an unlimited right to it, or he may convey or transfer it with certain reservations of right. Derivative title must always be by contract. 2. Derivative conveyances are, those which presuppose some other precedent conveyance, and serve only to enlarge, confirm, alter, restrain, restore, or transfer the interest granted by such original conveyance, 3 Bl. Com. 321.

Source: Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
 

Derivative \De*riv"a*tive\, a. [L. derivativus: cf. F. d['e]rivatif.]

Obtained by derivation; derived; not radical, original, or fundamental; originating, deduced, or formed from something else; secondary; as, a derivative conveyance; a derivative word. [1913 Webster]

2. Hence, unoriginal (said of art or other intellectual products. [PJC]

Derivative circulation, a modification of the circulation found in some parts of the body, in which the arteries empty directly into the veins without the interposition of capillaries. --Flint. -- De*riv"a*tive*ly, adv. -- De*riv"a*tive*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

Derivative \De*riv"a*tive\, n.

1. That which is derived; anything obtained or deduced from another. [1913 Webster]

2. (Gram.) A word formed from another word, by a prefix or suffix, an internal modification, or some other change; a word which takes its origin from a root. [1913 Webster]

3. (Mus.) A chord, not fundamental, but obtained from another by inversion; or, vice versa, a ground tone or root implied in its harmonics in an actual chord. [1913 Webster]

4. (Med.) An agent which is adapted to produce a derivation (in the medical sense). [1913 Webster]

5. (Math.) A derived function; a function obtained from a given function by a certain algebraic process. [1913 Webster]

Note: Except in the mode of derivation the derivative is the same as the differential coefficient. See Differential coefficient, under Differential. [1913 Webster]

6. (Chem.) A substance so related to another substance by modification or partial substitution as to be regarded as derived from it; thus, the amido compounds are derivatives of ammonia, and the hydrocarbons are derivatives of methane, benzene, etc. [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

62 Moby Thesaurus words for "derivative": accountable, acquired, alleged, ascribable, assignable, attributable, attributed, borrowed, by-product, charged, conjugate, consequent, consequential, copied, credited, derivable from, derivation, derivational, derived, descendant, development, due, echoic, ensuing, etymologic, explicable, final, following, imitative, imputable, imputed, lexical, lexicographic, lexicologic, lexigraphic, noncreative, nongerminal, nonseminal, obtained, offshoot, onomastic, onomatologic, onomatopoeic, owing, paronymic, paronymous, plagiarized, procured, putative, referable, referred to, resultant, resulting, sequacious, sequent, sequential, spin-off, traceable, uncreative, uninventive, unoriginal, unpregnant

Source: Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
 

derivative adj : resulting from or employing derivation; "a derivative process"; "a highly derivative prose style"

noun

1: the result of mathematical differentiation; the instantaneous change of one quantity relative to another; df(x)/dx [syn: derived function, differential coefficient, differential, first derivative]
2: a financial instrument whose value is based on another security [syn: derivative instrument]
3: (linguistics) a word that is derived from another word; "`electricity' is a derivative of `electric'"

Source: WordNet (r) 2.0
 

Derivative \De*riv"a*tive\, a. [L. derivativus: cf. F. d['e]rivatif.]

Obtained by derivation; derived; not radical, original, or fundamental; originating, deduced, or formed from something else; secondary; as, a derivative conveyance; a derivative word.

Derivative circulation, a modification of the circulation found in some parts of the body, in which the arteries empty directly into the veins without the interposition of capillaries. --Flint. -- De*riv"a*tive*ly, adv. -- De*riv"a*tive*ness, n.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Derivative \De*riv"a*tive\, n.

1. That which is derived; anything obtained or deduced from another.

2. (Gram.) A word formed from another word, by a prefix or suffix, an internal modification, or some other change; a word which takes its origin from a root.

3. (Mus.) A chord, not fundamental, but obtained from another by inversion; or, vice versa, a ground tone or root implied in its harmonics in an actual chord.

4. (Med.) An agent which is adapted to produce a derivation (in the medical sense).

5. (Math.) A derived function; a function obtained from a given function by a certain algebraic process.

Note: Except in the mode of derivation the derivative is the same as the differential coefficient. See Differential coefficient, under Differential.

6. (Chem.) A substance so related to another substance by modification or partial substitution as to be regarded as derived from it; thus, the amido compounds are derivatives of ammonia, and the hydrocarbons are derivatives of methane, benzene, etc.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)