difference

Less common meanings

5. 5
   set theorynouncountable or uncountable

   In math, the group of items that are in one set but not in the other.

   Like a list of toys you own but your friend does not.

   The difference of the two sets contains only the numbers in the first one.

   To find the difference, remove every item that also appears in the other set.

   Note
6. 6
   species trait (logic)nouncountable or uncountable

   In old logic, the special feature that sets one kind apart within a larger group.

   Like saying what makes a square special among all four-sided shapes.

   In old logic, 'rational' is the difference between humans and other animals.

   For the old logicians, reason was the difference that set humans apart.

   Note
7. 7
   nounobsoletecountable or uncountable

   The act of choosing, or a liking for one thing more than another.

   That now be chooseth with vile difference To be a beast, and lack intelligence.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie QueeneHere, difference means choice, picking one thing over another.

   Note
8. 8
   verbobsoletetransitive

   To tell one thing apart from another.

   This simple spectation of the lungs is differenced from that which concomitates a pleurisy.

   1672, Gideon Harvey, Morbus AnglicusHere, differenced means told apart or set apart from something else.

   Note
9. 9
   nounrare

   In logic, an operation that is true only when two inputs are not the same.
10. 10
    noun

    In old family crests, a small added mark that tells apart two crests that would look the same.