reciprocal
re·cip·ro·cal
adjective
concerning each of two or more persons or things; especially given or done in return
- “reciprocal aid”
- “reciprocal trade”
- “mutual respect”
- “reciprocal privileges at other clubs”
of or relating to or suggestive of complementation
- “interchangeable electric outlets”
of or relating to the multiplicative inverse of a quantity or function
- “the reciprocal ratio of a:b is b:a”
noun
something (a term or expression or concept) that has a reciprocal relation to something else
- “risk is the reciprocal of safety”
(mathematics) one of a pair of numbers whose product is 1: the reciprocal of 2/3 is 3/2; the multiplicative inverse of 7 is 1/7
hybridization involving a pair of crosses that reverse the sexes associated with each genotype
Origin
From Latin reciprocus, possibly from a phrase such as reque proque (“back and forth, to and fro”), from re- (“back”), prō (“forwards”) and -que (“and”).
Phrases
- prime reciprocal magic square
- reciprocal altruism
- reciprocal IVF
- reciprocal lattice
- reciprocal pronoun
- reciprocal proportion
Related words
Word family
Broader terms
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.