Re‐cip″ro‐cal, n. 1. That which is reciprocal to another thing.
Corruption is a reciprocal to generation. Bacon.
2. (Arith. & Alg.) The quotient arising from dividing unity by any quantity; thus, ¼ is the reciprocal of 4; ⅟(a +b) is the reciprocal of a + b. The reciprocal of a fraction is the fraction inverted, or the denominator divided by the numerator.