differentiation — English Dictionary

Noun

1. The act or process of differentiating (generally, without a specialized sense). 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.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   More examples (1)

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

2. The act or process of differentiating (generally, without a specialized sense). The process of developing distinct components.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

3. 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.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

4. 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.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   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.

5. The process of separation of cooling magma into various rock types.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

6. The process of applying the derivative operator to a function; of calculating a function's derivative.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   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.

Noun

1. a discrimination between things as different and distinct on the basis of their characteristics or attributes

   Synonyms

   distinction

   Broader terms

   discriminationsecernment

   Examples

   it is necessary to make a distinction between love and infatuation

2. the mathematical process of obtaining the derivative of a function

   Broader terms

   mathematical processmathematical operationoperation

3. (biology) the structural adaptation of some body part for a particular function

   Synonyms

   specializationspecialisation

   Broader terms

   adaptationadaptionadjustment

   Examples

   cell differentiation in the developing embryo