derivatives

Meanings

1. 1nounpluralfinance

   Financial contracts whose value depends on the price of something else, such as a stock, a currency or a commodity.

   Grammar: Usually plural for the whole class of products: the derivatives market, trade derivatives.

   Patterns

   • trade derivatives
   • derivatives based on something

   Banks use derivatives to protect themselves against changes in exchange rates.

   The fund lost money after betting heavily on risky derivatives.

   Regulators want tighter rules on how derivatives are traded.

2. 2nouncountablemathematics

   In calculus, values that show how quickly a quantity changes as another quantity changes.

   Grammar: Often followed by of a function: the derivatives of these functions.

   Patterns

   • the derivative of something
   • find the derivatives

   Students learn to calculate derivatives of simple polynomials in their first calculus course.

   The derivatives of the speed function tell you the acceleration.

   Setting both derivatives to zero lets us find the highest point.

3. 3nouncountable

   Things developed or taken from an earlier source, such as words formed from a root or works copied from an original.

   Grammar: Often followed by of: derivatives of Latin words.

   Patterns

   • derivatives of something

   Words like quickly and quickness are derivatives of the adjective quick.

   Several chemical derivatives of this compound are used as medicines.

   The film inspired countless cheap derivatives.

Common combinations

derivatives market

The derivatives market is worth far more than the real economy it tracks.

trade derivatives

Some hedge funds trade derivatives all day.

credit derivatives

Credit derivatives played a part in the 2008 financial crisis.

take the derivative

To find the slope, take the derivative of the function.

first and second derivatives

Use the first and second derivatives to sketch the curve.

derivatives of a compound

Chemists tested several derivatives of the compound.

Synonyms and how they differ

offshoots

Offshoots are things that grow out of something larger, and the word feels more natural for groups or organisations than for contracts or math.

spin-offs

Spin-offs are new products or shows made from a successful original, so the word is more commercial and informal.

by-products

By-products are things made while producing something else, which stresses accident rather than deliberate derivation.

rates of change

Rates of change explains the math sense in plain words, but derivatives is the precise technical term.

Opposites

Word family

derive verb

to obtain or develop from a source

derivation noun

the process or origin of something derived

derivative adjective

copied from or based on others, not original

derived adjective

obtained from something else

Commonly confused: derivatives or derivation?

Practice

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