Dictionary Definition
different adj
1 unlike in nature or quality or form or degree;
"took different approaches to the problem"; "came to a different
conclusion"; "different parts of the country"; "on different sides
of the issue"; "this meeting was different from the earlier one"
[ant: same]
2 distinctly separate from the first; "that's
another (or different) issue altogether" [syn: another(a)]
3 differing from all others; not ordinary;
"advertising that strives continually to be different"; "this new
music is certainly different but I don't really like it"
4 not like; marked by dissimilarity; "for twins
they are very unlike"; "people are profoundly different" [syn:
unlike, dissimilar] [ant: like]
5 distinct or separate; "each interviewed
different members of the community"
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- /'dɪf.ə(ɹ).ənt/|/'dɪf.ɹənt/, /"dIf.@(r).@nt/|/"dIf.r@nt/
Adjective
- not the same.
- Mona is different from Eloise.
- unlike most others; unusual.
- "Different" is often used unnecessarily with a number to try to emphasize it.
Usage notes
The construction different from is the prescriptive standard for comparing nouns with other nouns or clauses:- The university is different from what it was in 1980.
- The university is different than it was in 1980.
- The university is different than in 1980.
- The university is different to what it was in 1980.
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations
not the same
- Catalan: diferent
- Chinese:
- Danish: forskellig, anderledes, ulig
- Dutch: verschillend, anders, ongelijk
- Finnish: erilainen, toisenlainen
- French: différent
- German: verschieden
- Greek: διαφορετικός (diaforetikós)
- Hebrew: ,
- Italian: differente
- Japanese: 異なる (ことなる, kotonaru), 違う (ちがう, chigau)
- Kurdish: ,
- Polish: różny, inny
- Russian: другой (drugój), не такой как (n'e takój kak), различный (razlíčnyj)
- Slovene: drugačen , drugačna , drugačno
unlike most others
- Catalan: diferent
- Chinese:
- Danish: anderledes
- Dutch: anders
- Finnish: erilainen, omalaatuinen, poikkeuksellinen
- French: différent
- German: anders
- Hebrew: ,
- Italian: differente
- Kurdish:
- Polish: odmienny, niezwykły, rozmaity
- Russian: разный
- Slovene: drugačno
- Spanish: diferente
- ttbc Arabic: (mukhtalif)
- ttbc Bulgarian: друг, различен
- ttbc Chinese ("not the
same")
- Cantonese: 不一樣, 不一样 (bat1 jat1 joeng6)
- Min Nan: 無仝款, 无仝款 (bô-kâng-khóan)
- ttbc Esperanto: malsama, diferenca, diversa
- ttbc Estonian: erinev
- ttbc Ido: diferanta
- ttbc Indonesian: beda, lain, berbeda
- ttbc Interlingua: differente, distincte, diverse
- ttbc Italian: diverso
- ttbc Spanish: distinto , distinta , diferente, khác
- ttbc Swedish: olik
- ttbc Telugu: విభిన్నం (vibhinnaM)
- ttbc Turkish: farklı, çeşitli, değişik, başka
Extensive Definition
Difference is the contrary of
equality,
in particular of objects. Differences can only be stated on the
basis of a comparison
or categorization. Since a
complete comparison of objects or things is seldom possible in
practice, only relevant or defining attributes
are used for stating equality or difference. Similar objects are
only different with respect to attributes of minor discriminative
value.
In order for something to be different, you must
have something to compare it to.
In particular, difference can refer to:
- In Philosophy, Differance
- In mathematics, difference always means
- the result of subtraction
- difference in set theory: see complement and symmetric difference
- inequality
- Difference in computing: see delta encoding
- Difference on a coat of arms: see heraldry
- Different (song), a song by Acceptance
See also
different in German: Differenz
different in Hungarian: Különbség
different in Portuguese: Diferença
different in Simple English:
Difference
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
aberrant, abnormal, absolute, abundant, amorphous, anomalistic, anomalous, another, assorted, at odds, at variance,
bizarre, capricious, certain, changeable, changing, choppy, concrete, conflicting, contrary, contrasted, contrasting, contrastive, counter, crank, crankish, cranky, crotchety, defined, definite, departing, detailed, determinate, deviant, deviating, deviative, deviatory, differentiated, differing, disaccordant, disagreeing, discordant, discrepant, discrete, discriminated, disjoined, disorderly, disparate, dissimilar, dissonant, distant, distinct, distinctive, distinguishable,
distinguished,
divaricate, divergent, diverging, divers, diverse, diversified, diversiform, dotty, eccentric, erose, erratic, esoteric, especial, exceptional, express, extraordinary, fey, fixed, flaky, formless, freakish, funny, hardly like, heteroclite, heterogeneous, heteromorphic, idiocratic, idiosyncratic, impulsive, in disagreement,
inaccordant,
incompatible,
incongruous,
inconsistent,
inconsonant,
inconstant, individual, inharmonious, inner, intimate, irreconcilable, irregular, jagged, jerky, kinky, kooky, maggoty, manifold, many, mercurial, minute, motley, multifarious, mutable, new, nonconformist, nonstandard, nonuniform, noteworthy, novel, numerous, nutty, odd, oddball, off, offbeat, opposite, original, other, otherwise, out, particular, peculiar, personal, pluralistic, poles apart,
poles asunder, precise,
private, queer, quirky, ragged, rare, remarkable, respective, rough, scarcely like, screwball, screwy, separate, separated, several, shapeless, single, singular, solipsistic, spasmodic, special, specific, sporadic, strange, stray, straying, subnormal, sundry, twisted, unalike, uncommon, unconformable, unconventional, unequable, unequal, uneven, unfamiliar, unheard-of,
unidentical,
unique, unlike, unmatched, unnatural, unorthodox, unresembling, unsame, unsimilar, unstable, unsteady, unsystematic, ununiform, unusual, variable, variant, varied, variegated, variform, various, varying, wacky, wandering, wavering, weird, whimsical, widely apart,
worlds apart