differentiate

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Archived revision by DCDuring (talk | contribs) as of 22:16, 10 January 2020.
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

WOTD – 30 April 2007

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] New Latin *differentiatus, past participle of differentiare, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin differentia (“difference”); see difference.

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /dɪf.əˈɹɛn.ʃi.eɪt/
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˌdɪ.fəˈɹɛnt.ʃi.eɪt/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (AU):(file)

Verb

Lua error in Module:en-headword at line 1145: Legacy parameter 1=STEM no longer supported, just use 'en-verb' without params

  1. (transitive) To show, or be the distinction between two things.
    • (Can we date this quote by Earle and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      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.
  2. (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.
  3. (transitive, intransitive) To modify, or be modified.
  4. (transitive, mathematics) To calculate the derivative of a function.
  5. (transitive, mathematics) To calculate the differential of a function of multiple variables.
  6. (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.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

Noun

differentiate (plural differentiates)

  1. (geology) Something that has been differentiated or stratified.
    • 1969, Alexander R. McBirney, Geology and Petrology of the Galápagos Islands, page 185:
      There is no discernable tendency, however, for the differentiates to fall into two extremities, as would be expected if they were trending toward distinct eutectics in a residua system.
    • 1991, Roger H. Mitchell, Petrology of Lamproites, page 10:
      This latter terminology is particularly favored by Soviet petrologists, e.g.. Bogatikov et al. (1985), who believe that any magma typically exhibits both agpaitic and miascitic differentiates.
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=differentiate&oldid=58337252"