differ

Formsdiffers, differing, differed

Pluraldiffers

1. 1
   verbintransitive

   To be unlike or distinct from something else in qualities, traits, or characteristics.

   The twins look alike but differ greatly in personality.

   Building styles differ sharply from one region to another.

   Similarvary, contrast, diverge, deviate

   Oppositeresemble, match, correspond

   Note

   Latin differō pictured things carried apart: dis- "apart" plus ferō "carry". The same verb also meant "put off" or "defer", but English kept the separating image. The usual construction is differ from, with in naming the point of contrast, as in shoes that differ from others in having longer laces. An adverb can measure the gap, as when Darwin, in On the Origin of Species (1859), finds individuals that differ much more from each other.

2. 2
   verbintransitive

   To hold a diverging opinion; to disagree about something.

   Historians differ about the underlying causes of the war.

   We may differ on the details, but we share the same goal.

   Similardisagree, diverge, clash, dissent

   Oppositeagree, concur

   Note

   The subjects here are usually people or groups, and that is what marks the sense. The preposition alone will not mark it. In 1827 George Canning could "differ from the honourable baronet," using the same from that serves the "unlike" meaning. The topic of the disagreement follows on or about, as in Canning's "on both these subjects".

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To be separated in quantity, so that one amount is unequal to another by some measurable gap.

   The two estimates differ by several thousand units.

   Temperatures in the two cities differ by about ten degrees.

   Similarvary

   Note

   Here the word does arithmetic. By introduces the size of the gap, and the gap is what subtraction leaves: 21 less 3 is 18. The relation runs both ways, so the numbers differ by 18 whichever is named first, and no from is needed. Where the "unlike" meaning asks in what way two things contrast, this one asks only how far apart they are.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A program that compares two files and reports the differences between them; a diff.

   He piped the output through a differ to spot the edits.

   Most version control systems ship with a built-in differ.

   Similardiff

   Note

   A separate computing word that only shares the verb's spelling. It is built from diff plus the agent suffix -er, so it names the tool that does the diffing. Its plural, differs, collides with the verb's third-person form, and only context tells them apart. Diff itself is a synonym, and it also serves as the verb for what the program does.

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