differentiate
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɪf.əˈɹɛn.ʃi.eɪt/
ipa: /ˌdɪf.əˈɹɛn.ʃi.eɪt/
ipa: /dɪf.əˈɹen.ʃi.æɪt/
ipa: /dəf.əˈɹen.ʃi.æɪt/
note: Indic
ipa: /ɖɪf(ə)rənʃ(ɪ)ˈjeʈ/
Forms: form: differentiates
form: differentiating
form: differentiated
form: differentiated
Etymology: From New Latin differentiātus, perfect passive participle of differentiō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix)), from Latin differentia (“difference”); see difference.
Senses: examples: text: A humble instance of Ablaut may be quoted which took place in the seventeenth century, when the word then was differentiated into the two forms then and than.
ref: 1873, John Earle, The Philology of the English Tongue, second edition, page 128:
glosses: To modify so as to create a difference or distinction.
examples: text: What differentiates an alligator from a crocodile?
text: Taste differentiates a gentleman—for instance, Mr. Addison—from a Hottentot or Laplander.
ref: 1998, W. Ross Winterowd, The English Department: A Personal and Institutional History, Southern Illinois University Press, →ISBN, page 66:
glosses: To show or be the difference or distinction between things.
examples: text: How do you differentiate a fake smile from a genuine one?
text: In the earlier chapters uncouth proper names are reduced to a minimum, but the Index refers by name to specific places and persons only generally mentioned in the earlier pages. For instance, the states of Lu and Chêng on pages 22 and 29 : it is hard enough to differentiate Ts‘i, Tsin, Ts‘in, and Ts‘u at the outstart, without crowding the memory with fresh names until the necessity for it absolutely arises.
ref: 1908, Edward Harper Parker, Ancient China Simplified, London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd., →OCLC, page ix:
text: 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.
ref: 1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXII, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC:
antonyms: conflate
glosses: To recognize as different or distinct.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: To calculate the derivative of a function.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: To calculate the differential of a function of multiple variables.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1964, New York Times v. Sullivan:
glosses: To perceive the difference between things; to discriminate.
examples: text: Like most teaching, differentiating is a mix of art and science. When it works, "it's like a jazz rhythm," said Carol Tomlinson, an education professor at the University of Virginia and an expert on differentiation.
ref: 2012 May 16, Michael Alison Chandler, “Teaching for all levels — in one class”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 11 Feb 2023:
text: Moreover, children of STIP-teachers who showed many types of differentiation activities learnt more than children of STIP-teachers who differentiated less.
ref: 2017 August, Tessa H.S. Eysink, Manon Hulsbeek, Hannie Gijlers, “Supporting primary school teachers in differentiating in the regular classroom”, in Teaching and Teacher Education, volume 66, Amsterdam: Elsevier, →DOI, →ISSN, page 107116:
text: I use technology to differentiate in my Algebra classroom in many different ways. Sometimes, I put this technology in the hands of students and sometimes I use it myself to streamline a process.
ref: 2018 June 22, Larry Ferlazzo, quoting Sarah Shartzer, “Response: Ways to Use Tech to Differentiate Instruction”, in Education Week, archived from the original on 19 May 2022:
topics: education
glosses: To teach a lesson in multiple different ways in order to meet the needs of more or less advanced students.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1930, Robert Evans Snodgrass, Insects: Their Ways and Means of Living:
text: Osteoblasts are derived from stromal cells, a type of connective tissue cell in the bone marrow, whereas osteoclasts differentiate from macrophages, which are tissue-bound derivatives of monocytes, a type of white blood cell (see p. 402).
ref: 2013, Lauralee Sherwood, “The Peripheral Endocrine Glands”, in Human Physiology: From Cells to Systems, 8th edition, Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, →ISBN, page 723:
topics: biology
natural-sciences
synonyms: specialize
qualifier: often in the passive voice
glosses: To (cause to) go through a process of development called differentiation; to make or become different in form or function.
Synonyms: sense: to show or be the distinction between things
word: differentialize
sense: to perceive the difference between things
word: differentialize
word: tell apart
sense: to modify
word: change
word: transform
word: alter
word: differentiate
word: differentialize (rare) ?
word: distinguish
word: individualize
word: particularize
word: severalize
Derived terms: codifferentiate
cytodifferentiate
dedifferentiate
differentiable
differentiation
differentiator
differentiatory
indifferentiate
misdifferentiate
neurodifferentiate
nondifferentiating
redifferentiate
retrodifferentiate
subdifferentiating
transdifferentiate
undifferentiating
Related terms: word: differ
word: difference
word: different
word: differential
word: tell apart