derive (something) from (someone or something)

derive (something) from (someone or something)

1. To gain something from a particular source. Liz definitely derived her athletic ability from her father, who used to be a professional baseball player. My mother derives great joy from cooking, but I simply don't. I'm from the East Coast, but I derived some Midwestern pronunciations from my parents because they both grew up there.

2. To trace the genesis or origin of something to a particular source. After a period of careful study, the linguist derived that term from Latin. A: "I hate when I look up a cool word in the dictionary and it just says, 'Origin unknown.'" B: "Well, do you want to put in the work to figure what exactly that word derives from?" A: "Have you been able to derive the novel's title from an earlier work?" B: "Yes! It's a line from T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland."

See also: derive

derive from (someone or something)

To originate or emerge from a particular source. I think this word derives from Greek, but what does it say in the dictionary? Wait, "Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" derives from a Tennyson poem? All this time, I just assumed it was from Shakespeare. A: "Why do 'entomology' and 'etymology' sound so similar but mean wildly different things?" B: "My guess is that they derive from different words."

See also: derive

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

derive something from someone or something

to draw or abstract something from someone or something. She derives a lot of spiritual support from her religion. She derives her patience from her mother.

See also: derive

derive something from something

to show how something is descended from something else. Is it possible to derive this word from Greek? Is this word derived from Latin?

See also: derive

derive from something

to come from something; to evolve from something. (Usually in reference to a word and its etymological history.) This word derives from an ancient Celtic word. What does the English word skirt derive from?

See also: derive

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

derive from

v.

1. To obtain or receive something from some source: I derive great pleasure from listening to music.

2. To issue or originate from some source: The word "peninsula" derives from the Latin words for "almost" and "island."

3. To trace the origin or development of something, as a word, from some source: The language scholar derived the word from ancient Greek.

See also: derive

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.