Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe act or process of differentiating (generally, without a specialized sense).
nounThe act or process of differentiating (generally, without a specialized sense)., The act of treating one thing as distinct from another, or of creating such a distinction; of separating a class of things into categories; of describing a thing by illustrating how it is different from something else.
Sentence Examples
The math teacher explained the concept of partial differentiation.
Cell ____ is the process where unspecialized cells become specialized in function.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The math teacher explained the concept of partial ____.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁
Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is-
Proto-Italic *dis-
Latin dis-
Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-
Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti
Proto-Italic *ferō
Latin ferō
Latin differō
Latin differēns
Proto-Indo-European *-yós
Proto-Italic *-ios
Old Latin -ios
Latin -ius
Latin -ia
Latin differentia
New Latin differentiō
New Latin differentiātusbor.
English differentiate
Proto-Indo-European *-tis
Proto-Indo-European *-Hō
Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō
Proto-Italic *-tiō
Latin -tiō
Latin -ātiōlbor.
Old French -ationbor.
Middle English -acioun
English -ation
English -ion
English differentiation
From differentiate + -ion, from different + -iate, from differ + -ent, from Middle English differen, from Old French differer, from Latin differō (“carry apart, put off, defer; differ”), from dis- (“apart”) + ferō (“carry, bear”); cognate with Ancient Greek διαφέρω (diaphérō, “to differ”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The level of kinesthetic differentiations was established for every individual by using device called kinesthesiometer which allows testing in aquatic environment"
— 2011, Zukow Walery, Skaliy Aleksander, Napierala Marek, State, prospects and development of rescue, physical culture and sports in the XXI century, →ISBN, page 63:
"Any hope that the pierines would help to define “the level at which r-K phenomena should be sought has been dashed: apparently species groups (or subgenera, or splitters' genera) are r- or K-selected in the holarctic, whereas in Tatochila the same amount of differentiation is found among populations in a complex in which the process of speciation has not yet been completed."
— 2012, Fritz Taylor, The Evolution of Insect Life Cycles, page 156:
"The integration and differentiation of vital function on the one hand, and the preparation and composition of food-material on the other hand form — as we will become fully aware further on — the two great divisions in the subject-matter of the science of organization, divisions corresponding to the fundamental biplicity of all advanced organization, its animal and its vegetative life."
— 1878, Edmund Montgomery, “Monera, and the problem of life”, in The Popular Science Monthly, volume XIII, page 680: