Differ
noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A program that diffs, a diff.
- 1 Not to have the same traits or characteristics; to be unalike or distinct. intransitive
"When we look to the individuals of the same variety or sub-variety of our older cultivated plants and animals, one of the first points which strikes us, is, that they generally differ much more from each other, than do the individuals of any one species or variety in a state of nature."
- 2 be of different opinions wordnet
- 3 Not to have the same traits or characteristics; to be unalike or distinct.; To be separated in quantity. intransitive
"The numbers 3 and 21 differ by 18."
- 4 be different wordnet
- 5 Not to have the same traits or characteristics; to be unalike or distinct.; To have diverging opinions, disagree. intransitive, usually
"May 11, 1827, George Canning, Changes in the Administration I differ from the honourable baronet on both these subjects"
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"I beg to differ, as I disagree with your analysis of the situation."
Etymology
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.
From diff + -er.
Related phrases
More for "differ"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.