RELATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does relate mean? 

• RELATE (verb)
  The verb RELATE has 5 senses:

1. make a logical or causal connection

2. be relevant to

3. give an account of

4. be in a relationship with

5. have or establish a relationship to

  Familiarity information: RELATE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RELATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they relate    ... he / she / it relates   
Past simple: related   
Past participle: related   
-ing form: relating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a logical or causal connection

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

associate; colligate; connect; link; link up; relate; tie in

Context example:

I cannot relate these events at all

Hypernyms (to "relate" is one way to...):

cerebrate; cogitate; think (use or exercise the mind or one's power of reason in order to make inferences, decisions, or arrive at a solution or judgments)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "relate"):

interrelate (place into a mutual relationship)

correlate (bring into a mutual, complementary, or reciprocal relation)

identify (conceive of as united or associated)

free-associate (associate freely)

have in mind; mean; think of (intend to refer to)

remember (exercise, or have the power of, memory)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody with something
Somebody ----s something with something

Derivation:

relation (an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of two entities or parts together)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be relevant to

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

bear on; come to; concern; have to do with; pertain; refer; relate; touch; touch on

Context example:

My remark pertained to your earlier comments

Verb group:

advert; allude; touch (make a more or less disguised reference to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "relate"):

center; center on; concentrate on; focus on; revolve about; revolve around (center upon)

apply; go for; hold (be pertinent or relevant or applicable)

affect; involve; regard (connect closely and often incriminatingly)

interest; matter to (be of importance or consequence)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Give an account of

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

The witness related the events

Hypernyms (to "relate" is one way to...):

narrate; recite; recount; tell (narrate or give a detailed account of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s something to somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

relation (an act of narration)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be in a relationship with

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

interrelate; relate

Context example:

How are these two observations related?

Hypernyms (to "relate" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Verb group:

interrelate (place into a mutual relationship)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "relate"):

predicate (make the (grammatical) predicate in a proposition)

tutor (act as a guardian to someone)

tie in (be in connection with something relevant)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

relation (an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of two entities or parts together)

relation ((usually plural) mutual dealings or connections among persons or groups)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Have or establish a relationship to

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

She relates well to her peers

Hypernyms (to "relate" is one way to...):

interact (act together or towards others or with others)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "relate"):

mesh (work together in harmony)

attach; bind; bond; tie (create social or emotional ties)

get along; get along with; get on; get on with (have smooth relations)

take back (resume a relationship with someone after an interruption, as in a wife taking back her husband)

disrespect (show a lack of respect for)

connect (establish a rapport or relationship)

bind; hold; obligate; oblige (bind by an obligation; cause to be indebted)

harmonise; harmonize (bring (several things) into consonance or relate harmoniously)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

relation ((usually plural) mutual dealings or connections among persons or groups)

 Context examples 

The other circumstance of regret related also to Jane Fairfax; and there she had no doubt.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

In the coming year, Jupiter will provide career-related rewards beyond your wildest expectations.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

This allele, which encodes beta-adrenergic receptor kinase 2 protein, is involved in the phosphorylation of the activated form of the beta-adrenergic and related G-protein-coupled receptors.

(ADRBK2 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

Margaret related something to her the next day, which placed this matter in a still clearer light.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The study of insects as they relate to human disease.

(Medical Entomology, NCI Thesaurus)

Because she has not seen enough of the evil attending such things, she goes and gets married next, as the child relates.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

With Madame Frederic and her husband: she took care of me, but she is nothing related to me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Of, or related to, the abdomen.

(Abdominal, NCI Thesaurus)

I know now to whom it must relate, and am in no hurry for the rest.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The researchers believe this decrease relates to time consumed by school-related activities.

(High amounts of screen time begin as early as infancy, National Institutes of Health)