different

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See also: différent and diffèrent

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English different, from Old French different, from Latin differēns, present active participle of differō (“I differ”); see differ.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈdɪf.ɹənt/, /ˈdɪf.əɹ.ənt/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Hyphenation: dif‧fer‧ent, diffe‧rent

Adjective[edit]

different (comparative more different, superlative most different)

  1. Not the same; exhibiting a difference.
    • 1886, Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge:
      At Elizabeth-Jane mentioning how greatly Lucetta had been jeopardized, he exhibited an agitation different in kind no less than in intensity from any she had seen in him before.
    • 1915, Edward Knobel, Ptolemy's Catalogue of Stars – A Revision of the Almagest, page 14 (showing that "to" was used by an Englishman in 1915)
      One interesting feature was remarked by Dr. Peters, viz.: that the instrument used for the longitudes of the original catalogue was graduated differently to that used for the latitudes.
    • 1971, William S. Burroughs, The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead, page 6
      Enter the American tourist. He thinks of himself as a good guy but when he looks in the mirror to shave this good guy he has to admit that "well, other people are different from me and I don't really like them." This makes him feel guilty toward other people.
    • 2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:
      Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.  ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.
  2. Various, assorted, diverse.
    • 2006, Delbert S. Elliott et al., Good Kids from Bad Neighborhoods: Successful Development in Social Context,[1] Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 19:
      In any case, poor black respondents living in high-poverty neighborhoods are most likely to view their neighborhood as a single block or block group and to use this definition consistently when asked about different neighborhood characteristics and activities.
  3. Distinct, separate; used for emphasis after numbers and other determiners of quantity.
    • 2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200:
      Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.
    Several different scientists all reached this conclusion at about the same time.
  4. Unlike most others; unusual.

Usage notes[edit]

  • (not the same): Depending on dialect, time period, and register, the adjective different (“not the same”) may be construed with one of the prepositions from, to, and than, or with the subordinating conjunction than.
    Pleasure is different from/than/to happiness.
    It's different than (or from what) I expected.
    Of these, from is more common in formal registers than in informal ones, and more common in the US than elsewhere; than is more common in the US than elsewhere; and to is more common in the UK, in Australia, and in New Zealand than in the US. Style guides often advocate different from, by analogy with differ from rather than *differ than or *differ to, and proscribe different than and different to.

Synonyms[edit]

Antonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Derived terms

Related terms[edit]

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Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun[edit]

different (plural differents)

  1. (mathematics) The different ideal.

Further reading[edit]

German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin differēns.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): [dɪfəˈʀɛnt]
  • Hyphenation: dif‧fe‧rent

Adjective[edit]

different (comparative differenter, superlative am differentesten)

  1. different

Declension[edit]

Positive forms of different
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter all genders
predicative er ist different sie ist different es ist different sie sind different
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative differenter differente differentes differente
genitive differenten differenter differenten differenter
dative differentem differenter differentem differenten
accusative differenten differente differentes differente
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der differente die differente das differente die differenten
genitive des differenten der differenten des differenten der differenten
dative dem differenten der differenten dem differenten den differenten
accusative den differenten die differente das differente die differenten
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein differenter eine differente ein differentes (keine) differenten
genitive eines differenten einer differenten eines differenten (keiner) differenten
dative einem differenten einer differenten einem differenten (keinen) differenten
accusative einen differenten eine differente ein differentes (keine) differenten
Comparative forms of different
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter all genders
predicative er ist differenter sie ist differenter es ist differenter sie sind differenter
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative differenterer differentere differenteres differentere
genitive differenteren differenterer differenteren differenterer
dative differenterem differenterer differenterem differenteren
accusative differenteren differentere differenteres differentere
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der differentere die differentere das differentere die differenteren
genitive des differenteren der differenteren des differenteren der differenteren
dative dem differenteren der differenteren dem differenteren den differenteren
accusative den differenteren die differentere das differentere die differenteren
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein differenterer eine differentere ein differenteres (keine) differenteren
genitive eines differenteren einer differenteren eines differenteren (keiner) differenteren
dative einem differenteren einer differenteren einem differenteren (keinen) differenteren
accusative einen differenteren eine differentere ein differenteres (keine) differenteren
Superlative forms of different
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter all genders
predicative er ist am differentesten sie ist am differentesten es ist am differentesten sie sind am differentesten
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative differentester differenteste differentestes differenteste
genitive differentesten differentester differentesten differentester
dative differentestem differentester differentestem differentesten
accusative differentesten differenteste differentestes differenteste
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der differenteste die differenteste das differenteste die differentesten
genitive des differentesten der differentesten des differentesten der differentesten
dative dem differentesten der differentesten dem differentesten den differentesten
accusative den differentesten die differenteste das differenteste die differentesten
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein differentester eine differenteste ein differentestes (keine) differentesten
genitive eines differentesten einer differentesten eines differentesten (keiner) differentesten
dative einem differentesten einer differentesten einem differentesten (keinen) differentesten
accusative einen differentesten eine differenteste ein differentestes (keine) differentesten

Further reading[edit]

Latin[edit]

Verb[edit]

different

  1. third-person plural future active indicative of differō
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