Derive Meaning
/dɪˈɹaɪv/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo obtain or receive (something) from something else.
verbTo deduce (a conclusion) by reasoning.
Sentence Examples
We derive further pleasure from our study.
A lot of problems derive from a lack of reading in the home.
You will derive great benefits from learning English.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Many English words ____ from Latin and Greek origins.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We ____ further pleasure from our study.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English deriven, from Old French deriver, from Latin dērīvō (“to lead, turn, or draw off (a liquid), draw off, derive”), from dē (“away”) + rīvus (“a stream”); see rival. Unrelated to arrive.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Bob the aforesaid, and his present chances of deriving a competent independence from the honourable profession to which he had devoted himself."
— 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “Relates How Mr. Pickwick, with the Assistance of Samuel Weller, Essayed to Soften the Heart of Mr. Benjamin Allen, and to Mollify the Wrath of Mr. Robert Sawyer”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page 508:
"Power is derived from a British United Traction Limited "A"-type 150-h.p. six-cylinder horizontal diesel engine; this drives through a fluid flywheel, and thence through a free wheel unit to a four-speed epicyclic gearbox."
— 1958 April 26, “Diesel Railbus for British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 275:
"Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes."
— 2013 July-August, Sarah Glaz, “Ode to Prime Numbers”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
"Britannia's firebox would appear to have derived from those of the Bulleid Pacifics, which it closely resembles."
— 1951 April, Stirling Everard, “A Matter of Pedigree”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 273:
"Today, popularity is typically a multialgorithmic measure. At Flickr, a photo's interestingness derives from views, comments, notes, bookmarks, favorites..."
— 2010, Peter Morville, Jeffery Callender, Search Patterns: Design for Discovery:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Many English words ____ from Latin and Greek origins.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We ____ further pleasure from our study.