relevant

English

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relevant

Wikipedia

Etymology

From the Scots dialect of English meaning "legally pertinent," used in Scots legal circles starting in the early 1500s. Borrowed from Latin relevāns, relevāntem, present active participle of relevō (“lift up again, lighten, relieve”), from re- (“again”) + levō (“lift”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛləvənt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

relevant (comparative more relevant, superlative most relevant)

1. Related, connected, or pertinent to a topic.
   1. (especially) Directly related, connected, or pertinent, with important ramifications or implications.

      His mother provided some relevant background information concerning his medical condition.

      • 2025 February 14, Heather Westwood, Will Mandy, Rebecca Brewer, “The Relationship Between Interoception, Alexithymia, Autistic Traits and Eating Pathology in Autistic Adults”, in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders‎, →DOI:

        Although autistic women with AN have cited concerns with weight/shape as less relevant in the development of their ED (Kinnaird, Norton, Stewart, et al., 2019), these could still have been a contributing factor.

2. Not out of date; current.
   • 1973 December 20, “Hansen says Christmas time for thanks, hope”, in The Aberdeen Times‎:

     The message of Christmas is still relevant as we near the end of a troubled year and the beginning of an uncertain but challenging new year.

   • 2008, Scott Cooper, Fritz Grutzner, Birk Cooper, Tips and Traps for Marketing Your Business‎, McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, page 39:

     Motorola was quickly losing the cell-phone battle to Nokia for a time. When they launched the RAZR phone and combined it with their "Hello Moto" campaign, it made the brand relevant again.

3. (slang, by extension) Famous, popular, or noteworthy in a contemporary context.

Synonyms

• (directly related to a topic): applicable, germane, in point (legal), pertinent, salient; See also Thesaurus:pertinent
• (not out of date): current, prevailing, prevalent, rife, up-to-date

Antonyms

• irrelevant (in binary cognitive schema, as compared with schematic spectrums allowing for notions of "directly relevant", "not directly relevant", "less relevant" and "especially relevant".)

Derived terms

• safety-relevant

Related terms

• relevance
• relevancy
• relief
• relieve
• reliever

Translations

directly related, connected, or pertinent to a topic

Arabic: مُتَّصِل (muttaṣil), مُتَعَلِّق (mutaʕalliq) Belarusian: адпаве́дны (adpavjédny) Bulgarian: уместен (bg) (umesten) Catalan: rellevant (ca), pertinent Chinese: Mandarin: 有關 / 有关 (zh) (yǒuguān), 相關 / 相关 (zh) (xiāngguān) Czech: relevantní (cs) Dutch: relevant (nl) Esperanto: rilata, grava (eo) Estonian: seotud, asjakohane Finnish: oleellinen (fi), relevantti (fi), asiaankuuluva, olennainen (fi) French: pertinent (fr) Galician: relevante (gl) German: relevant (de) Hindi: सुसंगत (hi) (susaṅgat), प्रासंगिक (hi) (prāsaṅgik) Hungarian: lényeges (hu), releváns (hu), idevágó (hu) Icelandic: viðeigandi Indonesian: relevan (id) Irish: ábhartha Italian: rilevante (it) Japanese: 適切 (ja) (てきせつ, tekisetsu), 関連した (ja) (かんれんした, kanren shita) Korean: 관련되다 (ko) (gwallyeondoeda) Kyrgyz: орчундуу (orcunduu) Macedonian: соо́дветен (soódveten), у́месен (úmesen), целосоо́бразен (celosoóbrazen), по́врзан (póvrzan) Maori: hāngai Norwegian: relevant (no) Polish: związany (pl), odpowiedni (pl), stosowny (pl), istotny (pl), relatywny (pl) ((legal)) Portuguese: relevante (pt), pertinente (pt) Romanian: relevant (ro) m, pertinent (ro) m Russian: соотве́тствующий (ru) (sootvétstvujuščij), уме́стный (ru) (uméstnyj), (stilted) релева́нтный (ru) (relevántnyj), относя́щийся к де́лу (otnosjáščijsja k délu), име́ющий отноше́ние (iméjuščij otnošénije) Spanish: pertinente (es), relevante (es) Swedish: relevant (sv) Turkish: alakalı (tr), ilgili (tr), ilişkili (tr) (law) Ukrainian: відпові́дний (vidpovídnyj) Welsh: perthnasol (cy)

not out of date

Esperanto: aktuala Hungarian: aktuális (hu), időszerű (hu) Italian: prevalente (it) Macedonian: актуе́лен (aktuélen) Polish: aktualny (pl) Russian: актуа́льный (ru) (aktuálʹnyj)

Further reading

• “relevant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “relevant”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• levanter

Dutch

Etymology

From Latin relevans, present active participle of relevō (“lift up again, lighten, relieve”), from re- (“again”) + levō (“lift”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /reːləˈvɑnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: re‧le‧vant
• Rhymes: -ɑnt

Adjective

relevant (comparative relevanter, superlative relevantst)

1. relevant

   Antonym: irrelevant

Declension

Declension of relevant
uninflected	relevant
inflected	relevante
comparative	relevanter
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		relevant	relevanter	het relevantst het relevantste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	relevante	relevantere	relevantste
	n. sing.	relevant	relevanter	relevantste
	plural	relevante	relevantere	relevantste
definite		relevante	relevantere	relevantste
partitive		relevants	relevanters	—

Derived terms

• relevantie

Descendants

• → Indonesian: relevan

Further reading

• “relevant” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.l(ə).vɑ̃/

Participle

relevant

1. present participle of relever

Further reading

• “relevant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

German

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany):

  (file)

• Audio (Germany):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ant

Adjective

relevant (strong nominative masculine singular relevanter, comparative relevanter, superlative am relevantesten)

1. relevant

   Synonyms: bedeutend, maßgeblich

   Antonyms: irrelevant, unbedeutend, unmaßgeblich

Declension

Positive forms of relevant

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist relevant	sie ist relevant	es ist relevant	sie sind relevant
strong declension (without article)	nominative	relevanter	relevante	relevantes	relevante
	genitive	relevanten	relevanter	relevanten	relevanter
	dative	relevantem	relevanter	relevantem	relevanten
	accusative	relevanten	relevante	relevantes	relevante
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der relevante	die relevante	das relevante	die relevanten
	genitive	des relevanten	der relevanten	des relevanten	der relevanten
	dative	dem relevanten	der relevanten	dem relevanten	den relevanten
	accusative	den relevanten	die relevante	das relevante	die relevanten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein relevanter	eine relevante	ein relevantes	(keine) relevanten
	genitive	eines relevanten	einer relevanten	eines relevanten	(keiner) relevanten
	dative	einem relevanten	einer relevanten	einem relevanten	(keinen) relevanten
	accusative	einen relevanten	eine relevante	ein relevantes	(keine) relevanten

Comparative forms of relevant

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist relevanter	sie ist relevanter	es ist relevanter	sie sind relevanter
strong declension (without article)	nominative	relevanterer	relevantere	relevanteres	relevantere
	genitive	relevanteren	relevanterer	relevanteren	relevanterer
	dative	relevanterem	relevanterer	relevanterem	relevanteren
	accusative	relevanteren	relevantere	relevanteres	relevantere
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der relevantere	die relevantere	das relevantere	die relevanteren
	genitive	des relevanteren	der relevanteren	des relevanteren	der relevanteren
	dative	dem relevanteren	der relevanteren	dem relevanteren	den relevanteren
	accusative	den relevanteren	die relevantere	das relevantere	die relevanteren
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein relevanterer	eine relevantere	ein relevanteres	(keine) relevanteren
	genitive	eines relevanteren	einer relevanteren	eines relevanteren	(keiner) relevanteren
	dative	einem relevanteren	einer relevanteren	einem relevanteren	(keinen) relevanteren
	accusative	einen relevanteren	eine relevantere	ein relevanteres	(keine) relevanteren

Superlative forms of relevant

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist am relevantesten	sie ist am relevantesten	es ist am relevantesten	sie sind am relevantesten
strong declension (without article)	nominative	relevantester	relevanteste	relevantestes	relevanteste
	genitive	relevantesten	relevantester	relevantesten	relevantester
	dative	relevantestem	relevantester	relevantestem	relevantesten
	accusative	relevantesten	relevanteste	relevantestes	relevanteste
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der relevanteste	die relevanteste	das relevanteste	die relevantesten
	genitive	des relevantesten	der relevantesten	des relevantesten	der relevantesten
	dative	dem relevantesten	der relevantesten	dem relevantesten	den relevantesten
	accusative	den relevantesten	die relevanteste	das relevanteste	die relevantesten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein relevantester	eine relevanteste	ein relevantestes	(keine) relevantesten
	genitive	eines relevantesten	einer relevantesten	eines relevantesten	(keiner) relevantesten
	dative	einem relevantesten	einer relevantesten	einem relevantesten	(keinen) relevantesten
	accusative	einen relevantesten	eine relevanteste	ein relevantestes	(keine) relevantesten

Derived terms

• sicherheitsrelevant, systemrelevant

Further reading

• “relevant” in Duden online
• “relevant” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Latin

Verb

relevant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of relevō

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

relevant (neuter singular relevant, definite singular and plural relevante)

1. relevant

Antonyms

• irrelevant

Related terms

• relevans

References

• “relevant” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

relevant (neuter singular relevant, definite singular and plural relevante)

1. relevant

Antonyms

• irrelevant

Related terms

• relevans

References

• “relevant” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French relevant.

Adjective

relevant m or n (feminine singular relevantă, masculine plural relevanți, feminine and neuter plural relevante)

1. relevant
2. (linguistics) distinctive

   Synonym: distinctiv

Declension

Declension of relevant

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	relevant		relevantă		relevanți	relevante
	definite	relevantul		relevanta		relevanții	relevantele
genitive- dative	indefinite	relevant		relevante		relevanți	relevante
	definite	relevantului		relevantei		relevanților	relevantelor

Further reading

• “relevant”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

Swedish

Adjective

relevant (comparative mer relevant, superlative mest relevant)

1. relevant

Declension

Inflection of relevant

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	relevant	mer relevant	mest relevant
neuter singular	relevant	mer relevant	mest relevant
plural	relevanta	mer relevanta	mest relevanta
masculine plural2	relevante	mer relevanta	mest relevanta
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	relevante	mer relevante	mest relevante
all	relevanta	mer relevanta	mest relevanta

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Antonyms

• irrelevant

Related terms

• relevans

Further reading

• relevant in Svensk ordbok.