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Toward vs Relative - What's the difference?

toward | relative |

As adjectives the difference between toward and relative

is that toward is (obsolete) future; to come while relative is connected to or depending on something else; comparative.

As a preposition toward

is in the direction of.

As a noun relative is

someone in the same family; someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption.

toward

English

Preposition

(en-prep) (mainly in American English)
  • In the direction of.
  • :
  • *(Bible), (w) xxiv. 1
  • *:He set his face toward the wilderness.
  • *
  • *:Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
  • In relation to (someone or something).
  • :
  • *(Bible), (w)
  • *:His eye shall be evil toward his brother.
  • For the purpose of attaining (an aim).
  • :
  • Located close to; near (a time or place).
  • :
  • *(Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)
  • *:I am toward nine years older since I left you.
  • Synonyms

    * towards

    Usage notes

    * Although some have tried to discern a semantic distinction between the words (term) and (towards), the difference is merely dialectal. (term) is more common in American English and (towards) is the predominant form in British English.

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (obsolete) Future; to come.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.iv:
  • ere that wished day his beame disclosd, / He either enuying my toward good, / Or of himselfe to treason ill disposd / One day vnto me came in friendly mood [...].
  • (dated) Approaching, coming near; impending; present, at hand.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Do you hear aught, sir, of a battle toward ?
  • * 1843 , '', book 2, ch. XV, ''Practical — Devotional
  • On the morrow […] orders the Cellerarius to send off his carpenters to demolish the said structure brevi manu , and lay up the wood in safe keeping. Old Dean Herbert, hearing what was toward , comes tottering along hither, to plead humbly for himself and his mill.
  • Yielding, pliant; docile; ready or apt to learn; not froward.
  • (obsolete, or, archaic) Promising, likely; froward.
  • Why, that is spoken like a toward prince. ? Shakespeare.

    Statistics

    * American English

    relative

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Connected to or depending on something else; comparative.
  • * 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “ Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, BBC Sport:
  • For Liverpool, their season will now be regarded as a relative disappointment after failure to add the FA Cup to the Carling Cup and not mounting a challenge to reach the Champions League places.
  • Expressed in relation to another item, rather than in complete form.
  • ''The relative URL /images/pic.jpg, when evaluated in the context of http&
  • x3A;//example.com/docs/pic.html, corresponds to the absolute URL http://example.com/images/pic.jpg.
  • (grammar) That relates to an antecedent.
  • (music) Having the same key but differing in being major or minor.
  • Relevant; pertinent; related.
  • relative to your earlier point about taxes, ...
  • Capable to be changed by other beings or circumstance; conditional.
  • Synonyms

    * comparative * conditional * limited

    Antonyms

    * absolute * unlimited

    Derived terms

    * relative to

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Someone in the same family; someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption.
  • Why do my relatives always talk about sex?
  • (linguistics) A type of adjective that inflects like a relative clause, rather than a true adjective, in certain Bantu languages.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    See also

    * aunt * brother * cousin * father * godparent * grandchild * granddaughter * grandson * great-grandchild * great-grandparent * in-law * mother * niece * nephew * parent * refer * referral * sister * stepdaughter * stepson * uncle

    Anagrams

    * ----