relevant

From Scots relevant meaning "legally pertinent," used in Scottish legal circles starting in the early 1500s, and first used in English in the 1700s. Borrowed from Latin relevāns, relevāntem, present active participle of relevō (“lift up again, lighten, relieve”), from re- (“again”) + levō (“lift”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛləvənt/, [ˈɹʷɛləvənt]

  • Audio (Southern England):

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  • Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɛləvənt
• Hyphenation: rel‧e‧vant

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^[1], →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 Not out of date; current.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^[2]:

     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^[3], 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.

• (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• (not out of date): current, prevailing, prevalent, rife, up-to-date

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

• “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.

• levanter

From Latin relevans.

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

1. relevant

• irrelevant

• relevans

• vedkommende
• aktuel

• “relevant” in Den Danske Ordbog

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

• IPA^(key): /reːləˈvɑnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

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

relevant (comparative relevanter, superlative relevantst)

1. relevant

   Antonym: irrelevant

• → Indonesian: relevan

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

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.l(ə).vɑ̃/

relevant

1. present participle of relever

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

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

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• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

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• Rhymes: -ant

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

1. relevant

   Synonyms: bedeutend, maßgeblich

   Antonyms: irrelevant, unbedeutend, unmaßgeblich

• sicherheitsrelevant, systemrelevant

• “relevant” in Duden online
• “relevant”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[4] (in German)

relevant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of relevō

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

1. relevant

• irrelevant

• relevans

• “relevant” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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

1. relevant

• irrelevant

• relevans

• “relevant” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Borrowed from French relevant.

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

1. relevant
2. (linguistics) distinctive

   Synonym: distinctiv

• “relevant”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

relevant (comparative mer relevant, superlative mest relevant)

1. relevant

• irrelevant

• relevans

• “relevant”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)