Different
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈdɪf.əɹ.ənt/, /ˈdɪf.ɹənt/
- Hyphenation: dif + fer + ent
Origin
From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin differēns, present active participle of differŠ("I differ"); see differ.
Full definition of different
Adjective
different
- Not the same; exhibiting a difference.
- 1886, Thomas Hardy, S:The Mayor of Casterbridge/Chapter 29, At Elizabeth-Jane mentioning how greatly Lucetta had been jeopardized, he exhibited an agitation different in kind no less than in intensity from any she had seen in him before.
- 1971, William S. Burroughs, The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead, page 6Enter the American tourist. He thinks of himself as a good guy but when he looks in the mirror to shave this good guy he has to admit that "well, other people are different from me and I don't really like them." This makes him feel guilty toward other people.
- 2013-07-19, Ian Sample, Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains, Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.
- Various, assorted, diverse.
- 2006, Delbert S. Elliott et al., Good Kids from Bad Neighborhoods: Successful Development in Social Context, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521863575, page 19:In any case, poor black respondents living in high-poverty neighborhoods are most likely to view their neighborhood as a single block or block group and to use this definition consistently when asked about different neighborhood characteristics and activities.
- Distinct, separate; used for emphasis after numbers and other determiners of quantity.
- 2013, Charles T. Ambrose, Alzheimer’s Disease, Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.
- Several different scientists all reached this conclusion at about the same time.
- Unlike most others; unusual.
Usage notes
(not the same) Depending on dialect, time period, and register, the adjective different ("not the same") may be construed with one of the prepositions from, to, and than, or with the subordinating conjunction than.
- Pleasure is different from/than/to happiness.
- It's different than (or from what) I expected.