(1) The reserved words or symbols used to express a relational condition or a relational expression.
(2) In COBOL, a reserved word, a relational character, a group of consecutive reserved words, or a group of consecutive reserved words and relational characters used to express a relational condition.
(3) Any of the set of operators that express an arithmetic condition that can be either true or false. The operators are: .GT., .GE., .LT., .LE., .EQ., and .NE.. They are defined as greater than, greater than or equal to, less than, less than or equal to, equal to, and not equal to, respectively.