1. (n.) The act of relating or telling; also, that which is related; recital; account; narration; narrative; as, the relation of historical events.

2. (n.) The state of being related or of referring; what is apprehended as appertaining to a being or quality, by considering it in its bearing upon something else; relative quality or condition; the being such and such with regard or respect to some other thing; connection; as, the relation of experience to knowledge; the relation of master to servant.

3. (n.) Reference; respect; regard.

4. (n.) Connection by consanguinity or affinity; kinship; relationship; as, the relation of parents and children.

5. (n.) A person connected by consanguinity or affinity; a relative; a kinsman or kinswoman.

6. (n.) The carrying back, and giving effect or operation to, an act or proceeding from some previous date or time, by a sort of fiction, as if it had happened or begun at that time. In such case the act is said to take effect by relation.

7. (n.) The act of a relator at whose instance a suit is begun.

about absorption affective meaning affiliation agnation allegory alliance analogy ancestry anent apropos association associations balancing bearing blood blood relationship blood relative brotherhood brothership capacity carnal knowledge character cognation coitus coloring common ancestry common descent comparative anatomy comparative degree comparative grammar comparative judgment comparative linguistics comparative literature comparative method compare comparing comparison concerning condition confrontation confrontment connection connotation consanguinity consequence contrast contrastiveness correlation correspondence cousinhood cousinship criminal conversation dealings delineation denotation description distinction distinctiveness doings drift effect embarrassment enation engagement enmeshment entanglement essence extension fatherhood filiation force fraternity gist grammatical meaning idea impact implication import in relation to inclusion intension interconnection intercourse interdependence involution involvement kin kindred kinship kinsman kinswoman lexical meaning liaison likening link links literal meaning matching maternity matrilineage matriliny matrisib matrocliny meaning metaphor motherhood narration narrative opposing opposition overtone parallelism part paternity patrilineage patriliny patrisib patrocliny pertaining to pertinence pith point portrayal position practical consequence propinquity proportion purport quality range of meaning re real meaning recapitulation recital recitation recountal recounting reference referent referring to regarding rehearsal relations relationship relative relevance report respecting retelling review role scope semantic cluster semantic field sense sex sexual intercourse sibship significance signification significatum signifie simile similitude sisterhood sistership span of meaning spirit status story structural meaning substance sum sum and substance symbolic meaning tale-telling telling tenor tie tie-in ties of blood totality of associations transferred meaning trope of comparison truck unadorned meaning undertone value weighing with regard to with respect to yarn spinning