1. A reference to something that is mutual or done in return; given or felt by each toward the other; mutual: James and Jerry had reciprocal respect for each other.
2. Descriptive of something given, performed, felt, etc., in return; concerning something given or shown by each of two sides or people to the other: After the German exchange group visited Tamworth, the English students planned on a reciprocal visit the following year.
3. Conveying a corresponding; matching; complementary; equivalent: The members of the fitness studio were able to have reciprocal privileges at other health clubs.
4. In grammar, with reference to a pronoun or verb; expressing mutual relationship or action: "Each other” and “one another” are reciprocal pronouns.
5. Pertaining to something which is inversely related or proportional; opposite: The contrasting, or reciprocal, color of fabric used for the lining was bright red as opposed to the bright blue color of the dress.
6. Etymology: from Latin reciprocus, "turning back the same way, alternating", which stands for reco-procos and is a compound of the adjectives recos, "turning backward", and procos, "turning forward"; therefore, reciprocus originally meant "turning backward and forward".

Reciprocal, when all things are considered, is a compound adjective based on the elements re-, "back, backward" and pro-, "for, forward".

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1. Either of a pair of numbers whose product is 1; for example, the number 3 is the reciprocal of ⅓, and ⅓ is the reciprocal of 3.
2. Something that is interchangeable with another person or thing.

A behavior occurring between individuals who are not related, based on the principle that help offered in one instance will be returned when the need for help is reversed.

A genetic cross of two genotypes, or creatures, in which gender influences the outcome: "The reciprocal cross of a male horse with a female donkey results in a hinny, while the cross of a female horse with a male donkey results in a mule."

In psychiatry, a social learning theory, that behavior is a result of the interplay between cognitive and environmental factors: People learn reciprocal determinations by observing others and imitating their actions and negative behavior patterns can be suppressed or eliminated by having someone learn different ways of behaving from other people who are role models.

Two hybrids, one descended from male of one species and the female of another species, the other from a female of the first and a male of the second; such as, the mule and the hinney, an offspring of a male horse or stallion and a female donkey.

1. A condition in which the action of one group of a pair of antagonistic muscles is inhibited by the excitation of the other group, as when the biceps are prevented from contracting and bending the arm at the elbow while the triceps are extending the arm; a result of reciprocal innervation.
2. The inhibition of an anxiety-provoking response by the practice of deep muscle relaxation.
3. Behavior therapy in which the patient is exposed to anxiety-producing stimuli while in a controlled state of relaxation so that the anxiety response is gradually inhibited.

In psychiatry, a form of behavior therapy in which the patient, while made to relax in comfortable surroundings, is gradually exposed to increasing amounts of anxiety-provoking stimuli.

In this way the patient can tolerate these stimuli and may eventually learn to dissociate the anxiety from them.

In physiology, the use of muscles around the joints, where the motor centers are connected in pairs in such a way that when one is excited the motor center of the corresponding antagonist is inhibited.