DIFFERENCE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Difference

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/dˈɪfərəns/ /dˈɪfrəns/ Listen

noun

Difference n.

1.

The act of differing; the state or measure of being different or unlike; distinction; dissimilarity; unlikeness; variation; as, a difference of quality in paper; a difference in degrees of heat, or of light; what is the difference between the innocent and the guilty? "Differencies of administration, but the same Lord."

2.

Disagreement in opinion; dissension; controversy; quarrel; hence, cause of dissension; matter in controversy. "What was the difference? It was a contention in public." "Away therefore went I with the constable, leaving the old warden and the young constable to compose their difference as they could."

3.

That by which one thing differs from another; that which distinguishes or causes to differ; mark of distinction; characteristic quality; specific attribute. "The marks and differences of sovereignty."

4.

Choice; preference. (Obs.) "That now he chooseth with vile difference To be a beast, and lack intelligence."

5.

(Her.) An addition to a coat of arms to distinguish the bearings of two persons, which would otherwise be the same. See Augmentation, and Marks of cadency, under Cadency.

6.

(Logic) The quality or attribute which is added to those of the genus to constitute a species; a differentia.

7.

(Math.) The quantity by which one quantity differs from another, or the remainder left after subtracting the one from the other.

Ascensional difference. See under Ascensional.

Synonyms: Distinction; dissimilarity; dissimilitude; variation; diversity; variety; contrariety; disagreement; variance; contest; contention; dispute; controversy; debate; quarrel; wrangle; strife.

verb

Difference v. t. (past & past part. differenced; pres. part. differencing) To cause to differ; to make different; to mark as different; to distinguish. "Thou mayest difference gods from men." "Kings, in receiving justice and undergoing trial, are not differenced from the meanest subject." "So completely differenced by their separate and individual characters that we at once acknowledge them as distinct persons."

See images of 'Difference'

Etymology of 'Difference'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Difference" Quotes from Famous Books

... I do so," answered the Balafre. "Saint Martin! [patron saint of Tours, Lucca, and of penitent drunkards. He was greatly honoured in the Middle Ages.] there is, I think, some difference between the execution of a criminal and a slaughter ...

— Quentin Durward • Sir Walter Scott

... he should take them. They wished he mightn't injure himself—hounds were expensive things—led to habits of irregularity—should be sorry to see such a nice young man as Mr. Waffles led astray—not that it would make any difference to them, but—(looking significantly at their daughters). No fox had been hunted by more hounds than Waffles had been by the ladies; but though he had chatted and prattled with fifty fair maids—any one of whom he might have found difficult to resist, if 'pinned' single-handed by, in a country ...

— Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour • R. S. Surtees

... preserve order, and thereby to take care of themselves and at the same time of the house, or of the house and at the same time of themselves, lest they should come to hurt and fall to ruin, necessity requires that the master and mistress agree, and act in unity; and if, from the difference of their minds (mentium) this cannot be done so well as it might, both duty and propriety require that it be done by representative conjugial friendship. That hereby concord is established in houses for the sake of necessity and ...

— The Delights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love • Emanuel Swedenborg

... if we look to the formal sovereignty of the free communities, it must be granted that the position of Greece was not altered in point of constitutional law by the events of 608. It was a difference de facto rather than de jure, when instead of the Achaean league the individual communities of Achaia now appeared by the side of Rome as tributary protected states, and when, after the erection of Macedonia as a separate Roman province, the latter relieved ...

— The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) • Theodor Mommsen

... nature in one rapid effort of Will, and advanced upon me. ... I warned him, but in vain! quick as lightning flash meets lightning flash, the two invisible Immortal Forces within us sprang into instant opposition,—with this difference, that while he was ignorant and unconscious of HIS power, I was cognizant and fully conscious of MINE. Mine was focused, as it were, upon him,— his was untrained and. scattered,—the result was that mine won the victory: yet ...

— Ardath - The Story of a Dead Self • Marie Corelli

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