recessive: Meaning and Definition of

re•ces•sive

1. tending to go, move, or slant back; receding.
2. of or pertaining to a recessive.
3. (of an accent) showing a tendency to recede from the end toward the beginning of a word.

1. that one of a pair of alternative alleles whose effect is masked by the activity of the second when both are present in the same cell or organism.
2. the trait or character determined by such an allele. Cf.(def. 6).