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differentiate

verb

Simple meaning

Calculate a derivative; take the derivative.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dihferehnsheeayt

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

dɪfɚˈɛnʃieɪt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. transitive

    To show or be the difference or distinction between things.

  2. transitive

    To modify so as to create a difference or distinction.

  3. Become distinct and acquire a different character

  4. transitive

    To recognize as different or distinct.

  5. intransitive

    To perceive the difference between things; to discriminate.

  6. Mark as different

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Become distinct and acquire a different character

Used this way, differentiate is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

clearly differentiatecells differentiate

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • differentiatedadjectiveInflected form

    Made different (especially in the course of development) or shown to be different.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.