respective
- 01 C1 Advanced
belonging or relating to each of the people or things you have just mentioned.
relating to two or more people or things individually, in the order they were previously mentioned.
Simple“After the meeting, the managers returned to their respective offices to start work.”
In context“The successful candidates were escorted to their respective departments to begin the orientation process with their new supervisors.”
UsageAlways used before a plural noun.
PitfallThey went to their respective home. They went to their respective homes.The noun following 'respective' must be plural because it refers to multiple individual items.
SynonymsAntonyms - 02 C2 Proficiency
showing or feeling respect for someone.
demonstrating or characterized by respect; respectful.
Simple“The knight gave a respective bow to the king.”
In context“In the old manuscript, the author writes of a respective silence that fell over the court when the queen entered.”
Teacher's tipThis sense is obsolete in modern English; learners should use 'respectful' instead.
SynonymsrespectfuldeferentialAntonyms
Usage robust respective
“Both rappers were the stars of their respective rival record labels - Shakur with Death Row Records and Biggie with Bad Boy Records.”
“Its Bristol stars, Oliver Tompsett and Samantha Barks, will resume their respective roles as circus entrepreneur PT Barnum and his wife, Charity.”
Borrowed from Medieval Latin respectivus, from Latin respectus. By surface analysis, respect + -ive.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.