Respective

Respective

Adjective · /rɪˈspɛktɪv/ · belonging or relating separately to each of two or more people or things already mentioned

Definition

Respective means "belonging to each one separately" — it assigns things to individuals one by one without mixing them up. When you say two managers returned to their respective offices, you mean each manager returned to their own office, not the same one. The word is almost always used in the plural: respective roles, respective departments, respective countries. It is a word of precision — it tells the reader to assign each item to its matching partner.

Origin

From Medieval Latin respectivus — having regard to, relating to. Derived from Latin respicere — to look back at, to regard. The word entered English in the 16th century through the pattern of scholarly and legal Latin. It was used in legal documents to assign duties and rights clearly to each named party — a usage that survives strongly in formal and professional writing today.