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Definition of derivative adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

derivative

adjective
 
/dɪˈrɪvətɪv/
 
/dɪˈrɪvətɪv/
(usually disapproving)
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  1. copied from something else; not having new or original ideas
    • a derivative design/style
    • I found the novel thin and derivative. I had expected more.
    Oxford Collocations DictionaryDerivative is used with these nouns:
    • work
    See full entry
    Word Originlate Middle English (in the adjective sense ‘having the power to draw off’, and in the noun sense ‘a word derived from another’): from French dérivatif, -ive, from Latin derivativus, from derivare, from de- ‘down, away’ + rivus ‘brook, stream’.
See derivative in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee derivative in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English

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