differentiate

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WOTD - 30 April 2007

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

< New Latin *differentiatus, pp. of *differentiare < Latin differentia (“‘difference’”); see difference.

[edit] Pronunciation

(RP) IPA: /dɪf.əˈrɛn.tʃi.eɪt/
(US) IPA: /ˌdɪ.fəˈrɛnt.ʃi.eɪt/
Audio (US)^{help, file}

[edit] Verb

Infinitive
to differentiate

Third person singular
differentiates

Simple past
differentiated

Past participle
differentiated

Present participle
differentiating

to differentiate (third-person singular simple present differentiates, present participle differentiating, simple past and past participle differentiated)

(transitive) To show, or be the distinction between two things.
- 1933, George Orwell, “Ch. XXII”, in Down and Out in Paris and London, Harvest / Harcourt paperback edition, page 120:
  
  The mass of the rich and poor are differentiated by their incomes and nothing else, and the average millionaire is only the average dishwasher dressed in a new suit.
(intransitive) To perceive the difference between things; to discriminate.
- 1964, New York Times v. Sullivan:
  
  he refused to instruct that actual intent to harm or recklessness had to be found before punitive damages could be awarded, or that a verdict for respondent should differentiate between compensatory and punitive damages.
(transitive, intransitive) To modify, or be modified.
(transitive, mathematics) To calculate the derivative of a function.
(transitive, mathematics) To calculate the differential of a function of multiple variables.
(intransitive, biology) To produce distinct organs or to achieve specific functions by a process of development called differentiation.
- 1930, Robert Evans Snodgrass, Insects: Their Ways and Means of Living:
  
  In Chapter IV we learned that every animal consists of a body, or soma, formed of cells that are differentiated from the germ cells usually at an early stage of development.