respectively

[Victor Steinbok]

  ... meaning "in the order given" (or, "in that order"):

http://bit.ly/bDOhPp
> While Milwaukee was ranked 11th poorest in 2008, the new data showed
> the city’s poverty level reached 27 percent as of 2009, trailing only
> Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo, N.Y., respectively.

The only conclusion I can reach from this statement is that Detroit,
Cleveland and Buffalo are the first, second and third cities,
respectively, in terms of highest poverty levels. But, in the sentence
above, the three cities are not paired with anything explicit to earn
the "respectively" label.

VS-)

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