respective

C1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ɹɪˈspɛktɪv/ See IPA manual

Freq #20891

Meanings

1

adj
Belonging separately to each of the people or things mentioned.

After the meeting, they returned to their respective offices.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · belonging separately to... corresponding specific several

Word family

Derived forms corespectivedisrespectiveirrespective respectivelyrespectivenessunrespective

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin respectivus, from Latin respectus. By surface analysis, respect + -ive.

respectivus la-med respectus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# respective

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ɹɪˈspɛktɪv/
**Frequency rank:** 20891

## Meanings
1. Belonging separately to each of the people or things mentioned.

## Examples
- After the meeting, they returned to their respective offices.

## Derived Forms
- corespective
- disrespective
- irrespective
- respectively
- respectiveness
- unrespective

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: respectivus
- Root: respectus

## Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin respectivus, from Latin respectus. By surface analysis, respect + -ive.

## AI Etymology
Respective is borrowed from Medieval Latin respectivus, from Latin respectus. By surface analysis, respect + -ive. The historical chain includes respectivus (Medieval Latin) and respectus (Latin). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as corespective, disrespective, irrespective, and respectively. In present use it covers belonging separately to each of the people or things mentioned.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown