DISCRETE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Discrete

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adjective

Discrete adj.

Separate; distinct; disjunct.

Disjunctive; containing a disjunctive or discretive clause; as, "I resign my life, but not my honor," is a discrete proposition.

(Bot.) Separate; not coalescent; said of things usually coalescent.

Discrete movement. See Concrete movement of the voice, under Concrete, a.

Discrete proportion, proportion where the ratio of the means is different from that of either couplet; as, 3:6::8:16, 3 bearing the same proportion to 6 as 8 does to 16. But 3 is not to 6 as 6 to 8. It is thus opposed to continued or continual proportion; as, 3:6::12:24.

Discrete quantity, that which must be divided into units, as number, and is opposed to continued quantity, as duration, or extension.

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Etymology of 'Discrete'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Discrete" Quotes from Famous Books

... twain are silent. Silence sits Lord of the revel, incubus of wits Arch palsier of prattle Yet many a girl here mute's a chatterer sweet, And many a youth in circles less discrete Is an ...

— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 98 February 15, 1890 • Various

... which appear nebulous. Praesepe is, perhaps, the best example. The slightest telescopic power applied to such groups alters the nebulous appearance, and shows that it comes from the combined and confused light of discrete stars. Other groups which remain nebulous in a seven-foot telescope, become stellar in a ten-foot. The nebulosity of the ten-foot can be resolved into stars by the twenty-foot, and so on. The nebulae ...

— Sir William Herschel: His Life and Works • Edward Singleton Holden

... space itself is absolutely transparent, leaving open the question as to whether there is enough matter scattered through it to absorb a sensible part of the light in its journey of years from the luminous body. If the aether were itself constituted of discrete molecules, on the model of material bodies, such transparency would not be conceivable. We must be content to treat the aether as a plenum, which places it in a class by itself; and we can thus recognize ...

— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia

Words linked to "Discrete" : separate