differentiate

From New Latin differentiātus, past participle of differentiō, from Latin differentia (“difference”); see difference.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪf.əˈɹɛn.ʃi.eɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌdɪ.fəˈɹɛnt.ʃi.eɪt/

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differentiate (third-person singular simple present differentiates, present participle differentiating, simple past and past participle differentiated)

1. (transitive)
   1. To make different; to change, modify.
   2. To recognize a distinction or difference between two things.

      Antonym: conflate

      • 1871, John Earle, The Philology of the English Tongue

        The word "then" was differentiated into the two forms "then" and "than".

      • 1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 22, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], OCLC 2603818:

        The mass of the rich and poor are differentiated by their incomes and nothing else, and the average millionaire is only the average dishwasher dressed in a new suit.

   3. (mathematics) To calculate the derivative of a function.
   4. (mathematics) To calculate the differential of a function of multiple variables.
2. (intransitive)
   1. To perceive the difference between things; to discriminate.
      • 1964, New York Times v. Sullivan:

        he refused to instruct that actual intent to harm or recklessness had to be found before punitive damages could be awarded, or that a verdict for respondent should differentiate between compensatory and punitive damages.

   2. (education) To teach a lesson in multiple different ways in order to meet the needs of more or less advanced students.
      • 2012 May 16, Michael Alison Chandler, “Teaching for all levels — in one class”, in The Washington Post‎, archived from the original on 2023-02-11:

        Like most teaching, differentiating is a mix of art and science. When it works, "it's like a jazz rhythm," said Carol Tomlinson, an education professor at the University of Virginia and an expert on differentiation.

      • 2017 August, Tessa H.S. Eysink; Manon Hulsbeek; Hannie Gijlers, “Supporting primary school teachers in differentiating in the regular classroom”, in Teaching and Teacher Education, volume 66, Amsterdam: Elsevier, DOI:10.1016/j.tate.2017.04.002, ISSN 0742-051X, page 107116:

        Moreover, children of STIP-teachers who showed many types of differentiation activities learnt more than children of STIP-teachers who differentiated less.

      • 2018 June 22, Larry Ferlazzo, quoting Sarah Shartzer, “Response: Ways to Use Tech to Differentiate Instruction”, in Education Week‎, archived from the original on 2022-05-19:

        I use technology to differentiate in my Algebra classroom in many different ways. Sometimes, I put this technology in the hands of students and sometimes I use it myself to streamline a process.

3. (transitive, intransitive, often in the passive, biology) To (cause to) go through a process of development called differentiation; to make or become different in form or function.

   Synonym: specialize

   • 1930, Robert Evans Snodgrass, Insects: Their Ways and Means of Living:

     In Chapter IV we learned that every animal consists of a body, or soma, formed of cells that are differentiated from the germ cells usually at an early stage of development.

   • 2013, Lauralee Sherwood, “The Peripheral Endocrine Glands”, in Human Physiology: From Cells to Systems, 8th edition, Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, →ISBN, page 723:

     Osteoblasts are derived from stromal cells, a type of connective tissue cell in the bone marrow, whereas osteoclasts differentiate from macrophages, which are tissue-bound derivatives of monocytes, a type of white blood cell (see p. 402).

• (to show the distinction between things): differentialize; see also Thesaurus:differentiate
• (to perceive the difference between things): differentialize; see also Thesaurus:tell apart
• (to modify): change, transform; see also Thesaurus:alter

• (to show the distinction between things): equate
• (to perceive the difference between things): mix up, muddle up
• (to modify): leave alone, preserve

• differentiation

• differ
• difference
• different
• differential

• differentiate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• differentiate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

differentiate (plural differentiates)

1. (geology) Something that has been differentiated or stratified.
   • 1969, Alexander R. McBirney, Geology and Petrology of the Galápagos Islands, page 185:

     There is no discernable tendency, however, for the differentiates to fall into two extremities, as would be expected if they were trending toward distinct eutectics in a residua system.

   • 1991, Roger H. Mitchell, Petrology of Lamproites, page 10:

     This latter terminology is particularly favored by Soviet petrologists, e.g.. Bogatikov et al. (1985), who believe that any magma typically exhibits both agpaitic and miascitic differentiates.