relate

Relate is a verb with several related senses, including telling or recounting events, establishing or showing a connection, and to empathize or identify with someone. The term derives from Old French relater, from Latin referre “to bring back, report,” via Late Latin relate.

In common usage, relate can mean to narrate: she related the events of the night. It can also mean to connect or be in a relationship with something: these results relate to the hypothesis, or the two species relate as predator and prey. In a personal sense, to relate to someone is to understand or identify with their experience: I can’t relate to that situation. In logic and mathematics, relate denotes a relation between elements, such as a binary relation; in databases and information systems, to relate records means to establish links between data items.

Relate is also the name of a charity organization in the United Kingdom that provides relationship support, counselling, and sex therapy services to individuals, couples, and families.

See also: relation, related, relating.