English Explanatory Dictionary

difference

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The quality of being different.
  2. A characteristic of something that makes it different from something else.
  3. A disagreement or argument.
  4. Significant change in or effect on a situation or state.
  5. The result of a subtraction; sometimes the absolute value of this result.
  6. Choice; preference.
  7. An addition to a coat of arms to distinguish two people's bearings which would otherwise be the same. See augmentation and cadency.
  8. The quality or attribute which is added to those of the genus to constitute a species; a differentia.
  9. A Boolean operation which is true when the two input variables are different but is otherwise false; the XOR operation ( scriptstyle A◌̅B+◌̅AB).
  10. The set of elements that are in one set but not another ( scriptstyle A◌̅B).
verb
  1. To distinguish or differentiate.
  2. to modify a heraldic emblem so as to distinguish one branch of a house from another

Pronunciation

/ˈdɪf(ə)ɹəns/ En-us-difference.ogg En-au-difference.ogg

Word forms

difference differences differencing differenced

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti Proto-Italic *ferō Latin ferō Latin differō Latin differēns Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin differentiader. Old French differencebor. Middle English difference English difference From Middle English difference, from Old French difference, from Latin differentia (“difference”), from differēns (“different”), present participle of differre. Doublet of differentia. Morphologically differ + -ence.

Synonyms

difference differentiation differentness distinction distinguishedness nonidentity unidenticality diversity departure deviation divergence disparity conflict difference of opinion dispute dissension nevermind remainder differentiate distinguish

Antonyms

identity identicality identicalness sameness

Related words

successor × = × ×... = log(base) = − = ÷ = Or sometimes + = + +... = = √ = differ different differential differentiate differentiation

Derived words

age difference antidifference as near as makes no difference common difference creative differences deflection difference diff difference engine difference equation difference gate difference maker difference-maker difference-making difference of opinion difference of two squares difference quotient difference set distinction without a difference electric potential difference equidifference finite difference goal difference know the difference between one's ass and a hole in the ground know the difference between one's ass and one's elbow learning difference make a difference make all the difference make the difference mass difference nondifference photodifference point of difference potential difference same difference set-theoretic difference size difference split the difference spot the difference symmetric difference tell the difference time difference undifferenced vive la difference what's the difference world of difference
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