differential
[dɪfəˈɹənʃəɫ]
differential adjective: of or pertaining to a difference.
Adjective
differential (comparative more differential, superlative most differential)
- Of or pertaining to a difference.
- differential characteristics
- I saved disk space by taking differential backups, which only stored the data that had changed.
- Dependent on, or making a difference; distinctive.
- Having differences in speed or direction of motion.
- Of or pertaining to differentiation or the differential calculus.
Noun
differential (plural differentials)
- The differential gear in an automobile, etc.
- A qualitative or quantitative difference between similar or comparable things.
- One of two coils of conducting wire so related to one another or to a magnet or armature common to both, that one coil produces polar action contrary to that of the other.
- A form of conductor used for dividing and distributing the current to a series of electric lamps so as to maintain equal action in all.
- A quantity representing an infinitesimal change in a variable, now only used as a heuristic aid except in nonstandard analysis but considered rigorous until the 20th century; a fluxion in Newtonian calculus, now usually written in Leibniz's notation as operatorname d!x.
- A function giving the change in the linear approximation of f at a point x over a small interval Δx or operatorname d!x, the function being called the differential of f and denoted operatorname d!f(x,Δx), operatorname d!f(x), or simply operatorname d!f.
- If f(x)#61;x², the differential of f is the function #92;operatorname#123;d#125;#92;#33;f(x,#92;Deltax)#61;f'(x)#92;Deltax#61;2x#92;Deltax.
- Any of several generalizations of this concept to functions of several variables or to higher orders: the partial differential, total differential, Gateaux differential, etc.
- The Jacobian matrix of a function of several variables.
- The pushforward or total derivative of ϕ: a linear map from the tangent space at a point x in ϕ's domain to the tangent space at ϕ(x) which is, in a technical sense, the best linear approximation of ϕ at x; denoted operatorname d!ϕₓ.
- Any of several generalizations of the concept(s) above: e.g. the Kähler differential in the setting of schemes, the quadratic differential in the theory of Riemann surfaces, etc.
differential meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam
differential in Hindi
- relating to a difference
- अवकल avkal
- relating to differentiation or differential calculus
- अवकल avkal
differential in Tamil
- வகையீடு, வேற்றுமை, வகையீட்டுக்குரிய, வகையீட்டு, வேற்றுமைக்குரிய, மாறுபாடுள்ள
differential in Bengali
- পার্থক্যমুলক, জাতিগত বৈশিষ্ট্যমূলক
differential in Malayalam
- dissimilar, different, contrasting
- ഭേദസൂചനകമായ, വ്യത്യസ്ത, വിശേഷകമായ, വേറിട്ട, വേറേ, വേർതിരിക്കുന്ന
- distinctive, distinguishing
- പ്രത്യേകമായ, വ്യവച്ഛേദക, വേർതിരിച്ചു കാട്ടുന്ന, വേർതിരിക്കുന്ന, വ്യാവർത്തക, സവിശേഷതയുള്ള
More languagesFewer languages
- differential in Kannada
- ಬೇರ್ಪಡುಗೆಯ, ಭೇದಾತ್ಮಕ, ಭೇದ ತೋರಿಸುವ, ಮಾರ್ಪಡುಗೆಯ
- differential in Tagalog
- tingirin, tingid
- differential in Indonesian
- perbedaan, diferensial
- differential in Vietnamese
- vi phân
Examples of differential in a sentence
- A hydraulic press is operated by the differential pressure of water on pistons of different dimensions.
- The notion of flow is basic to the study of ordinary differential equations.
- In this case, therefore, the linearoid system of invariant differential equations is merely the linearoid transform of a linear system.
Forms of differential
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more differential |
| superlative | most differential |
| Noun | |
| plural | differentials |
Origin of differential
Learned borrowing from Latin differentiālis. By surface analysis, different + -ial.
Words formed from differential
- bidifferential
- codifferential
- cytodifferential
- differential grasshopper
- differentialize
- differentially
- differential privacy
- differential racialization
- differintegral
- multidifferential
- nondifferential
- paradifferential
- pseudodifferential
- subdifferential
- subdifferentially
- thermodifferential
- time differential
- transdifferential
- ultradifferential
- undifferential
- absolute differential calculus
- affine differential geometry
- delay differential equation
- differential amplifier
- differential analyzer
- differential coefficient
- differential diagnosis
- differential equation
- differential form
- differential gear
- differential geometry
- differential lock
- differential medium
- differential piece work
- differential psychologist
- differential psychology
- differential scanning calorimetry
- differential screw
- differential steering
- differential structure
- differential thermal analysis
- differential thermometer
- differential topology
- integro-differential
- Legendre's differential equation
- limited-slip differential
- locking differential
- open differential
- ordinary differential equation
- partial differential
- partial differential equation
- stochastic differential equation
Phrases with differential
Questions about differential
- What does differential mean?
- Differential means of or pertaining to a difference.
- What is differential in Hindi?
- Differential in Hindi is अवकल (avkal). See Differential meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is differential?
- Differential can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce differential?
- Differential is pronounced [dɪfəˈɹənʃəɫ].
Words near differential in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: differential (page history and authors); differential (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); differential (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); differential (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); differential (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-differential.ogg.
Cite this entry: “differential.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/differential. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.