a. [ From Derive. ] That can be derived; obtainable by transmission; capable of being known by inference, as from premises or data; capable of being traced, as from a radical; as, income is derivable from various sources. [ 1913 Webster ]

All honor derivable upon me. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

The exquisite pleasure derivable from the true and beautiful relations of domestic life. H. G. Bell. [ 1913 Webster ]

The argument derivable from the doxologies. J. H. Newman. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. By derivation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Derivation. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The derival of e from a. Earle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. derivatus, p. p. of derivare. See Derive. ] Derived; derivative. [ R. ] H. Taylor. -- n. A thing derived; a derivative. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To derive. [ Obs. ] Huloet. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. derivatio: cf. F. dérivation. See Derive. ] 1. A leading or drawing off of water from a stream or source. [ Obs. ] T. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of receiving anything from a source; the act of procuring an effect from a cause, means, or condition, as profits from capital, conclusions or opinions from evidence. [ 1913 Webster ]

As touching traditional communication, . . . I do not doubt but many of those truths have had the help of that derivation. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The act of tracing origin or descent, as in grammar or genealogy; as, the derivation of a word from an Aryan root. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The state or method of being derived; the relation of origin when established or asserted. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. That from which a thing is derived. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. That which is derived; a derivative; a deduction. [ 1913 Webster ]

From the Euphrates into an artificial derivation of that river. Gibbon. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Math.) The operation of deducing one function from another according to some fixed law, called the law of derivation, as the operation of differentiation or of integration. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Med.) A drawing of humors or fluids from one part of the body to another, to relieve or lessen a morbid process. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. The formation of a word from its more original or radical elements; also, a statement of the origin and history of a word. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Relating to derivation. Earle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. derivativus: cf. F. dérivatif. ] 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 ]

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 ]

☞ 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 ]

v. t. (Chem.) to alter the chemical composition [ of a compound ] by a chemical reaction which changes some part of the molecule, leaving most of the molecule unchanged; to prepare a derivative{ 6 } from.
Syn. -- modify. [ PJC ]