Arising from relation; resulting from connection with, or reference to, something else; not absolute.

In relation to links and URL's: A relative URL is completely dependent on where the current document is located on your system or your web server. Relative URL's are only useful within your own site and need to include details of how the server should move through your site, up and down the directory tree, the find the file. e.g. index.html or ../query/past.html are both relative URL's. These links will fail (i.e. broken) if the current document is moved. See also absolute. Note that to find a file in a higher directory or to go back a stage in the tree, use ../ to signify the directory immediately above the one containing the current file. In relation to CSS positioning: Relative positioning provides an offset from the current flow of the page and allows elements to be accessed by a Javascript function. A relative position of top:0 left:0 is no different to the default static position.

A method of referencing another doument or file in which a specific machine is not mentioned, meaning that the desired object resides on the same system as the one being viewed. See absolute above.

not absolute or complete; "a relative stranger"

pathname is the location of the file or directory relative to the directory in which the user is currently located (the current working directory).

adj. 1. (of a time) representing an offset from an absolute time in the units appropriate to that time. For example, a relative internal time is the difference between two absolute internal times, and is measured in internal time units. 2. (of a pathname) representing a position in a directory hierarchy by motion from a position other than the root, which might therefore vary. The notation #P"../foo.text" denotes a relative pathname if the host file system is Unix. See absolute.

Live link s may be either absolute or relative, and either remote (that is, not present) or local (that is, present). A relative link uses multiples of dot-dot-slash "../" preceding the destination name to specify only as much of the search path as is necessary to refer the browser to a remote page in the local site | Links

link One of two ways to identify the destination of a hyperlink. The destination of a relative link is given by describing its position relative to the file the hyperlink is located in. You only use a relative link when you can control the location of the file you are jumping to. The other way to identify the destination of a hyperlink is by using a URL, which can be thought of as a fixed file location, or absolute link. A URL identifies the destination of a hyperlink by its full network address, not by its address in relation to the active document. You give a URL as the destination of a hyperlink when you don't control the location of the file you are jumping to on the Internet.

anything subject to external conditions or circumstances; temporal. Relative is the opposite of absolute, or unconditioned.