English

Verb

differentiate ‎(third-person singular simple present differentiates, present participle differentiating, simple past and past participle differentiated)

1. (transitive) To show, or be the distinction between two things.
   • Earle

     The word "then" was differentiated into the two forms "then" and "than".

   • 1933, George Orwell, “Ch. XXII”, in Down and Out in Paris and London, Harvest / Harcourt paperback edition, page 120:

     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.

2. (intransitive) To perceive the difference between things; to discriminate.
   • 1964, New York Times v. Sullivan:

     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.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To modify, or be modified.
4. (transitive, mathematics) To calculate the derivative of a function.
5. (transitive, mathematics) To calculate the differential of a function of multiple variables.
6. (intransitive, biology) To produce distinct organs or to achieve specific functions by a process of development called differentiation.
   • 1930, Robert Evans Snodgrass, Insects: Their Ways and Means of Living:

     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.

Synonyms

• differentialize

Derived terms

• differentiation

Related terms

• differ
• difference
• different
• differential

Translations

External links

• differentiate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• differentiate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911