Etymology

From differentiate +‎ -ionCategory:English terms suffixed with -ion#DIFFERENTIATION, from different +‎ -iate, from differ +‎ -ent, from Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#DIFFERENTIATIONCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#DIFFERENTIATION differen, from Old FrenchCategory:English terms derived from Old French#DIFFERENTIATION differer, from LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#DIFFERENTIATION differō (“carry apart, put off, defer; differ”), from dis- (“apart”) + ferō (“carry, bear”); cognate with Ancient Greek διαφέρω (diaphérō, “to differ”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪf.əˌɹɛn.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/Category:English 6-syllable words#DIFFERENTIATIONCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#DIFFERENTIATION

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#DIFFERENTIATION
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌdɪf.əˌɹɛn.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/Category:English 6-syllable words#DIFFERENTIATIONCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#DIFFERENTIATION

  • Audio (Colorado); [ˌdɪfˌɹɛn.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən]:

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#DIFFERENTIATION
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /dɪf.əˌɹen.ʃiˈæɪ.ʃən/Category:English 6-syllable words#DIFFERENTIATIONCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#DIFFERENTIATION
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /dəf.əˌɹen.ʃiˈæɪ.ʃən/Category:English 6-syllable words#DIFFERENTIATIONCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#DIFFERENTIATION
• Rhymes: -eɪʃənCategory:Rhymes:English/eɪʃən#DIFFERENTIATIONCategory:Rhymes:English/eɪʃən/6 syllables#DIFFERENTIATION

Noun

differentiation (countable and uncountable, plural differentiations)Category:English lemmas#DIFFERENTIATIONCategory:English nouns#DIFFERENTIATIONCategory:English uncountable nouns#DIFFERENTIATIONCategory:English countable nouns#DIFFERENTIATIONCategory:English countable nouns#DIFFERENTIATIONCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#DIFFERENTIATIONCategory:Pages with entries#DIFFERENTIATIONCategory:Pages with 1 entry#DIFFERENTIATION

1. The act or process of differentiating (generally, without a specialized sense).
   1. 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.
      • 2011, Zukow Walery, Skaliy Aleksander, Napierala Marek, State, prospects and development of rescue, physical culture and sports in the XXI century, →ISBN, page 63:

        The level of kinesthetic differentiations was established for every individual by using device called kinesthesiometer which allows testing in aquatic environment

        Category:English terms with quotations#DIFFERENTIATION

   3. The process of developing distinct components.
2. (biologyCategory:en:Biology#DIFFERENTIATION) The process by which the components of multicellular life (cells, organs, etc.) are produced and acquire function, as when a seed develops the root and stem, and the initial stem develops the leaf, branches, and flower buds.
3. (biologyCategory:en:Biology#DIFFERENTIATION, evolution) The evolutionary process by which one taxonomic group (species, genus, variety, etc.) becomes distinct from another, or acquires distinct features; the result of such a process: distinctness.
   • 2012, Fritz Taylor, The Evolution of Insect Life Cycles‎, page 156:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#DIFFERENTIATION

4. (geologyCategory:en:Geology#DIFFERENTIATION) The process of separation of cooling magma into various rock types.
5. (mathematicsCategory:en:Mathematics#DIFFERENTIATION, calculusCategory:en:Calculus#DIFFERENTIATION) The process of applying the derivative operator to a function; of calculating a function's derivative.
   • 1878, Edmund Montgomery, “Monera, and the problem of life”, in The Popular Science Monthly‎, volume XIII, page 680:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#DIFFERENTIATION

See also

• differentiation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia