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differ. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
differ, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
differ in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
differ you have here. The definition of the word
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differ, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English differren, from Old French differer, from Latin differō (“carry apart, put off, defer; differ”), from dis- (“apart”) + ferō (“carry, bear”). Compare Ancient Greek διαφέρω (diaphérō). Doublet of defer (etymology 1).
Verb
differ (third-person singular simple present differs, present participle differing, simple past and past participle differed)
- (intransitive) Not to have the same traits or characteristics; to be unalike or distinct.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:differ
These shoes only differ from those ones in having slightly longer laces.
- (intransitive, people, groups, etc.) To have diverging opinions, disagree.
- May 11, 1827, George Canning, Changes in the Administration
- I differ from the honourable baronet on both these subjects
- (intransitive) To be separated in quantity.
The numbers 3 and 21 differ by 18.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
not to have the same characteristics
- Arabic: اِخْتَلَفَ (iḵtalafa)
- Bulgarian: различа́вам се (bg) (različávam se)
- Catalan: diferir (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 不同 (zh) (bùtóng), 差別／差别 (zh) (chābié), 不一樣／不一样 (zh) (bù yīyàng)
- Czech: lišit se
- Danish:være forskellig(e) (da)
- Dutch: verschillen (nl), afwijken (nl)
- Esperanto: malsimili, diferenci
- Finnish: erota (fi)
- French: différer (fr)
- Galician: diferir (gl)
- German: sich unterscheiden (de), abweichen (de), differieren (de), verschieden sein, nicht übereinstimmen
- Greek: διαφέρω (el) (diaféro)
- Ancient: διαφέρω (diaphérō)
- Hungarian: különbözik (hu)
- Ido: diferar (io)
- Indonesian: beda (id), berbeda (id), berlainan (id)
- Italian: differire (it), essere differente, essere diverso
- Japanese: 異なる (ja) (ことなる, kotonaru), 違う (ja) (ちがう, chigau)
- Korean: 다르다 (ko) (dareuda)
- Latin: differō (la)
- Maori: horo
- Middle English: differren
- Polish: różnić się (pl)
- Portuguese: diferir (pt)
- Russian: отлича́ться (ru) impf (otličátʹsja), отличи́ться (ru) pf (otličítʹsja), различа́ться (ru) impf (različátʹsja), различи́ться (ru) pf (različítʹsja)
- Serbo-Croatian: razlikovati se (sh)
- Spanish: diferir (es)
- Swedish: vara olik(a) (sv), skilja sig åt
- Ukrainian: відрізня́тися (vidriznjátysja), різни́тися (riznýtysja)
- Vietnamese: khác (vi), không giống (vi)
- West Frisian: ferskille
|
to have diverging opinions, disagree
Etymology 2
From diff + -er.
Noun
differ (plural differs)
- (computing) A program that diffs, a diff.
- Synonym: diff
Further reading
- “differ”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “differ”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Latin
Verb
differ
- second-person singular present active imperative of differō