differentiate

English[edit]

WOTD – 30 April 2007

Etymology[edit]

From New Latin *differentiatus, past participle of differentiare, from Latin differentia (“difference”); see difference.

Pronunciation[edit]

(UK) IPA^(key): /dɪf.əˈɹɛn.ʃi.eɪt/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˌdɪ.fəˈɹɛnt.ʃi.eɪt/
Audio (US)
(file)

Verb[edit]

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.
- Earle
  
  The word "then" was differentiated into the two forms "then" and "than".
- 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.