Relevant

/ˈreləvənt/

adjectivemedium🔥Very CommonQuality
1 meaning1 idiom/phrase3 questions

Definitions

1

Connected with or pertinent to the topic being discussed or considered.

/ˈreləvənt/

adjectiveneutralmedium
Quality

Closely connected or appropriate to the matter at hand.

The article contained relevant information about climate change.

💡 Simply: Imagine you're talking about dogs, and someone brings up cats. The cats aren't relevant because we're talking about dogs! Relevant means that the information fits what you're talking about.

👶 For kids: If something is relevant, it means it's important and goes with what you are talking about or learning about. Like, a picture of a dog is relevant when talking about dogs.

More Examples

2

Please provide relevant details to support your claim.

3

The committee only considered the relevant proposals.

How It's Used

Legal

"The lawyer presented relevant evidence to the jury."

Academic

"Please cite only the relevant sources for your research paper."

Business

"We need to focus on the most relevant market trends."

Synonyms & Antonyms

Idioms & expressions

relevant to

Connected to or bearing on the subject under discussion.

"These findings are highly relevant to our current project."

From Middle French *relevant* (present participle of *relever* 'to raise, relieve, be of importance'), from Latin *relevare* 'to lift up again, to alleviate', from *re-* 'again' + *levare* 'to lift, raise'.

The word 'relevant' emerged in the 18th century, reflecting the growing emphasis on logic, reason, and the need for concise communication in legal, scientific, and philosophical contexts.

Memory tip

Think of a RELAY race. The baton that is being passed is only RELEVANT if it is part of the race.

Word Origin

LanguageLatin
Original meaning

"to lift up again, to alleviate"

relevant informationrelevant evidencehighly relevantdirectly relevantrelevant to

Common misspellings

releventrelaventreleivant

Usage

40%Spoken
60%Written