differ

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪfə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪfɚ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dif‧fer
• Rhymes: -ɪfə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English differren, from Old French differer, from Latin differō (“carry apart, put off, defer; differ”), from dis- (“apart”) + ferō (“carry, bear”). Compare Ancient Greek διαφέρω (diaphérō). Doublet of defer (etymology 1).

Verb

differ (third-person singular simple present differs, present participle differing, simple past and past participle differed)

1. (intransitive) Not to have the same traits or characteristics; to be unalike or distinct.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:differ

   These shoes only differ from those ones in having slightly longer laces.

2. (intransitive, people, groups, etc.) To have diverging opinions, disagree.
   • May 11, 1827, George Canning, Changes in the Administration

     I differ from the honourable baronet on both these subjects

3. (intransitive) To be separated in quantity.

   The numbers 3 and 21 differ by 18.

Derived terms

• agree to differ
• beg to differ
• your mileage may differ

Related terms

• difference
• different
• differential
• differentiate
• differentiation
• differently
• indifference
• indifferent
• indifferently

 

Translations

not to have the same characteristics

Arabic: اِخْتَلَفَ (iḵtalafa) Bulgarian: различа́вам се (bg) (različávam se) Catalan: diferir (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 不同 (zh) (bùtóng), 差別／差别 (zh) (chābié), 不一樣／不一样 (zh) (bù yīyàng) Czech: lišit se Danish:være forskellig(e) (da) Dutch: verschillen (nl), afwijken (nl) Esperanto: malsimili, diferenci Finnish: erota (fi) French: différer (fr) Galician: diferir (gl) German: sich unterscheiden (de), abweichen (de), differieren (de), verschieden sein, nicht übereinstimmen Greek: διαφέρω (el) (diaféro) Ancient: διαφέρω (diaphérō) Hungarian: különbözik (hu) Ido: diferar (io) Indonesian: beda (id), berbeda (id), berlainan (id) Italian: differire (it), essere differente, essere diverso Japanese: 異なる (ja) (ことなる, kotonaru), 違う (ja) (ちがう, chigau) Korean: 다르다 (ko) (dareuda) Latin: differō (la) Maori: horo Middle English: differren Polish: różnić się (pl) Portuguese: diferir (pt) Russian: отлича́ться (ru) impf (otličátʹsja), отличи́ться (ru) pf (otličítʹsja), различа́ться (ru) impf (različátʹsja), различи́ться (ru) pf (različítʹsja) Serbo-Croatian: razlikovati se (sh) Spanish: diferir (es) Swedish: vara olik(a) (sv), skilja sig åt Ukrainian: відрізня́тися (vidriznjátysja), різни́тися (riznýtysja) Vietnamese: khác (vi), không giống (vi) West Frisian: ferskille

to have diverging opinions, disagree

Arabic: اِخْتَلَفَ (iḵtalafa) Bulgarian: не съм съгласен (ne sǎm sǎglasen) Chinese: Mandarin: 异议 (zh) (yì yì) Danish: være uenig(e) Dutch: verschillen (nl) French: différer (fr) Galician: diverxer German: unterschiedlicher Meinung sein, sich uneinig sein, streiten (de), verschiedener Meinung sein, anderer Meinung sein, uneinig werden (de) Greek: διαφέρω (el) (diaféro) Ancient: διαφέρω (diaphérō) Ido: diferar (io) Ngazidja Comorian: ukhitalifiana Polish: nie zgadzać się, mieć inne zdanie Portuguese: divergir (pt) Russian: расходи́ться во мне́ниях (rasxodítʹsja vo mnénijax) Spanish: diferir (es) Swahili: kukhitalifiana Swedish: ha en avvikande uppfattning, tycka annorlunda, vara av en annan mening

Etymology 2

From diff +‎ -er.

Noun

differ (plural differs)

1. (computing) A program that diffs, a diff.

   Synonym: diff

Further reading

• “differ”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “differ”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• riffed

Latin

Verb

differ

1. second-person singular present active imperative of differō