differ

English Online Dictionary. What means differ‎? What does differ mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪfə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪfɚ/
• 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 and dilate, see also infer, confer and collate, refer and relate, as well as prefer and prelate among others.

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

   1. (intransitive) To be separated in quantity.

   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

Antonyms

• (to be unalike): match

Derived terms

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

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From diff +‎ -er.

Noun

differ (plural differs)

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

   Synonym: diff

Further reading

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “differ”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →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