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See also: différent and diffèrent


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PIE root

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin differēns, present active participle of differō ‎(I differ); see differ.


  • IPA(key): /ˈdɪf.əɹ.ənt/, /ˈdɪf.ɹənt/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: dif‧fer‧ent


different ‎(comparative more different, superlative most different)

  1. Not the same; exhibiting a difference.
    • 1886, Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge:
      At Elizabeth-Jane mentioning how greatly Lucetta had been jeopardized, he exhibited an agitation different in kind no less than in intensity from any she had seen in him before.
      Enter the American tourist. He thinks of himself as a good guy but when he looks in the mirror to shave this good guy he has to admit that "well, other people are different from me and I don't really like them." This makes him feel guilty toward other people.
  2. Various, assorted, diverse.
    • 2006, Delbert S. Elliott et al., Good Kids from Bad Neighborhoods: Successful Development in Social Context,[1] Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521863575, page 19:
      In any case, poor black respondents living in high-poverty neighborhoods are most likely to view their neighborhood as a single block or block group and to use this definition consistently when asked about different neighborhood characteristics and activities.
  3. Distinct, separate; used for emphasis after numbers and other determiners of quantity.
    • 2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200:
    Several different scientists all reached this conclusion at about the same time.
  4. Unlike most others; unusual.

Usage notes[edit]

  • (not the same): Depending on dialect, time period, and register, the adjective different ‎(not the same) may be construed with one of the prepositions from, to, and than, or with the subordinating conjunction than.
    Pleasure is different from/than/to happiness.
    It's different than (or from what) I expected.
    Of these, from is more common in formal registers than in informal ones, and more common in the US than elsewhere; than is more common in the US than elsewhere; and to is more common in the UK, in Australia, and in New Zealand than in the US. Style guides often advocate different from, by analogy with differ from rather than *differ than or *differ to, and proscribe different than and different to.



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different ‎(plural differents)

  1. (mathematics) The different ideal.

External links[edit]


Most common English words before 1923: manner · following · fell · #383: different · care · war · short




  1. third-person plural future active indicative of differō