reciprocal
- 01 C1 Advanced
adj.describes a feeling or action that is shared by two people or groups; if you do something for someone, they do the same for you.
adj.describing a relationship, feeling, or action that is mutual and experienced or performed by each party toward the other.
Simple“The two countries signed a reciprocal trade agreement to help both their economies.”
In context“Although they were competitors, there was a reciprocal respect between the two scientists that allowed for productive collaboration.”
Antonymsone sidedunilateral - 02 C2 Proficiency
adj.describes words like 'each other' that show two people are doing the same thing to one another.
adj.denoting a pronoun or verb that expresses a mutual action or relationship between the subject and the object.
Simple“In the sentence 'They helped each other,' the phrase 'each other' is a reciprocal pronoun.”
In context“The linguist noted that the language lacks a distinct reciprocal verb form, relying instead on reflexive markers to convey mutual action.”
Synonyms - 03 C1 Advanced
n.the number you get when you divide 1 by another number.
n.the mathematical value obtained by dividing one by a given quantity, or by inverting a fraction.
Simple“The reciprocal of 2 is 0.5, and the reciprocal of 5 is 1/5.”
In context“To divide by a fraction, the student must first determine its reciprocal and then perform a multiplication.”
Synonyms
“On Monday, Trump's tariff threats to Canada's auto industry followed Carney declaring the country would counter his levies with reciprocal tariffs on US goods "dollar for dollar".”
“The attraction between the Paris-born 43-year-old and the camera tends to be reciprocal.”
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”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.