Respectively is used to indicate order, like if you said "Michael Phelps and Michael Jordan excelled in swimming and basketball, respectively."
- Pronunciation: /rɪ'spɛktɪvli/
- English description: in the order given
- Synonyms: severally
- Chinese Translation: 分别地(fen1 bie2 de)
- Spanish Translation: respectivamente
- ORIGIN: You can think of respectively as a word that lines things up in order so they match. You might say that pizza and meatloaf are your favorite and least favorite foods, respectively. If you and your sister were voted Most Improved and MVP in a baseball league, respectively, then you got better and your sister was the best. This word doesn't have much to do with respect, but it is respectful to write clearly, andrespectively helps with that.
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
- They’ve been with the sheriff’s office for 14 months and 10 months, respectively.
- That would be the first quarterly decline in three years and follows increases of 4% and 5.4% in the first and second quarters, respectively.
*New word description, story and part of "EXAMPLE SENTENCE" are cited in Vocabulary.com