relativity

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the quality of being relative and having significance only in relation to something else

2. 2
   noun

   in physics, the theory that space and time are relative concepts rather than absolute concepts

3. 3
   noun

   The state of being relative to something else; the absence of universally applicable rules or standards; relativism; (countable) an instance of this.

4. 4
   noun

   Ellipsis of principle of relativity (“the principle that the laws of physics should be the same for all observers”).

5. 5
   noun

   An evaluation of the similarities and differences between things; a comparison; hence, a difference in position or status between things; a disparity.

Etymology

From relative (“connected to or depending on something else”) + -ity (suffix forming nouns from adjectives where the nouns refer to the properties, qualities, or states described by the adjectives). Sense 2.1 (“reliance of the nature of physical phenomena on the relative motion between an observer and the thing observed”) is a translation of German Relativität (“relativity”) used in the works of the German-American theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (1879–1955). Morphologically relative + -ity.