Meaning & use
Relate
Last updated
to show or establish a connection between two or more things, or to feel sympathetic understanding toward someone
See it in a sentence
The professor explained how climate change relates to global food shortages.
Many readers said they could really relate to the main character's struggles.
A note on using this word
The sense "to relate to someone" meaning to identify with their feelings is a relatively modern, informal extension of the older meaning "to narrate."
Words with a similar meaning
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Words with an opposite meaning
Another way to use it
2. verb
to tell or narrate an account of events
He related the whole story to the police in careful detail.
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