Definition of derivation

• n. - A leading or drawing off of water from a stream or source.
• n. - The act of receiving anything from a source; the act of procuring an effect from a cause, means, or condition, as profits from capital, conclusions or opinions from evidence.
• n. - The act of tracing origin or descent, as in grammar or genealogy; as, the derivation of a word from an Aryan root.
• n. - The state or method of being derived; the relation of origin when established or asserted.
• n. - That from which a thing is derived.
• n. - That which is derived; a derivative; a deduction.
• n. - The operation of deducing one function from another according to some fixed law, called the law of derivation, as the of differentiation or of integration.
• n. - A drawing of humors or fluids from one part of the body to another, to relieve or lessen a morbid process.