Search

noun
1.
an existing connection; a significant association between or among things:
the relation between cause and effect.
2.
relations.

the various connections between peoples, countries, etc.:
foreign relations.
the various connections in which persons are brought together:
business and social relations.
sexual intercourse.

3.
the mode or kind of connection between one person and another, between an individual and God, etc.
4.
connection between persons by blood or marriage.
5.
a person who is related by blood or marriage; relative:
his wife’s relations.
6.
the act of relating, narrating, or telling; narration.
7.
Law. a principle whereby effect is given to an act done at one time as if it had been done at a previous time.
8.
Mathematics.

a property that associates two quantities in a definite order, as equality or inequality.
a single- or multiple-valued function.

Idioms
9.
in / with relation to, with reference to; concerning:
It’s best to plan with relation to anticipated changes in one’s earnings.
noun
1.
the state or condition of being related or the manner in which things are related
2.
connection by blood or marriage; kinship
3.
a person who is connected by blood or marriage; relative; kinsman
4.
reference or regard (esp in the phrase in or with relation to)
5.
the position, association, connection, or status of one person or thing with regard to another or others
6.
the act of relating or narrating
7.
an account or narrative
8.
(law) the principle by which an act done at one time is regarded in law as having been done antecedently
9.
(law) the statement of grounds of complaint made by a relator
10.
(logic, maths)

an association between ordered pairs of objects, numbers, etc, such as … is greater than …
the set of ordered pairs whose members have such an association

11.
(philosophy)

internal relation, a relation that necessarily holds between its relata, as 4 is greater than 2
external relation, a relation that does not so hold

relation re·la·tion (rĭ-lā’shən)
n.

A logical or natural association between two or more things; relevance of one to another; connection.

The connection of people by blood or marriage; kinship.

A person connected to another by blood or marriage; a relative.

The positional relationship of the teeth or other structures in the mouth.

1. A subset of the product of two sets, R : A x B. If (a, b) is an element of R then we write a R b, meaning a is related to b by R. A relation may be: reflexive (a R a), symmetric (a R b => b R a), transitive (a R b & b R c => a R c), antisymmetric (a R b & b R a => a = b) or total (a R b or b R a).
See equivalence relation, partial ordering, pre-order, total ordering.
2. A table in a relational database.
(1995-02-28)