Syn. — Distinction; dissimilarity; dissimilitude; variation; diversity; variety; contrariety; disagreement; variance; contest; contention; dispute; controversy; debate; quarrel; wrangle; strife.
Difference
(Dif"fer*ence) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Differenced ; p. pr. & vb. n. Differencing.] To cause to
differ; to make different; to mark as different; to distinguish.
Thou mayest difference gods from men.
Chapman.
Kings, in receiving justice and undergoing trial, are not differenced from the meanest subject.
Milton.
So completely differenced by their separate and individual characters that we at once acknowledge
them as distinct persons.
Sir W. Scott. Different
(Dif"fer*ent) a. [L. differens, -entis, p. pr. of differre: cf. F. différent.]
1. Distinct; separate; not the same; other. "Five different churches." Addison.
2. Of various or contrary nature, form, or quality; partially or totally unlike; dissimilar; as, different kinds of
food or drink; different states of health; different shapes; different degrees of excellence.
Men are as different from each other, as the regions in which they are born are different.
Dryden. Different is properly followed by from. Different to, for different from, is a common English colloquialism.
Different than is quite inadmissible.
Differentia
(||Dif`fer*en"ti*a) n.; pl. Differentiæ [L. See Difference.] (Logic) The formal or distinguishing
part of the essence of a species; the characteristic attribute of a species; specific difference.
Differential
(Dif`fer*en"tial) a. [Cf. F. différentiel.]
1. Relating to or indicating a difference; creating a difference; discriminating; special; as, differential characteristics;
differential duties; a differential rate.
For whom he produced differential favors.
Motley. 2. (Math.) Of or pertaining to a differential, or to differentials.
3. (Mech.) Relating to differences of motion or leverage; producing effects by such differences; said of
mechanism.
Differential calculus. (Math.) See under Calculus. — Differential coefficient, the limit of the ratio
of the increment of a function of a variable to the increment of the variable itself, when these increments
are made indefinitely small. — Differential coupling, a form of slip coupling used in light machinery
to regulate at pleasure the velocity of the connected shaft. — Differential duties (Polit. Econ.), duties
