differentiation

/dɪf.əˌɹɛn.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/US/ˌdɪf.əˌɹɛn.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/

differentiation noun: 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.

Noun

differentiation (countable and uncountable, plural differentiations)

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.
- The level of kinesthetic differentiations was established for every individual by using device called kinesthesiometer which allows testing in aquatic environment2011, Zukow Walery, Skaliy Aleksander, Napierala Marek, State, prospects and development of rescue, physical culture and sports in the XXI century, →ISBN, page 63
The process of developing distinct components.
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.
(evolution) 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.
- 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...2012, Fritz Taylor, The Evolution of Insect Life Cycles, page 156
The process of separation of cooling magma into various rock types.
The process of applying the derivative operator to a function; of calculating a function's derivative.
- 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...1878, Edmund Montgomery, “Monera, and the problem of life”, in The Popular Science Monthly, volume XIII, page 680

differentiation meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Malayalam

differentiation in Hindi

act of differentiating: विभेदन vibhedan, विभेदीकरण vibhedīkraṇ
act of distinguishing or describing a thing, by giving its different, or specific difference: विभेदन vibhedan, विभेदीकरण vibhedīkraṇ
gradual formation or production of organs or parts by a process of evolution or development: विभेदनज़्ज़्ज़्ज़्ज़्ज़् vibhedan
separation of magma: विभेदन vibhedan

differentiation in Tamil

வகையீடு, வகையிடல், வகையீட்டல், வகைக்கெழு காணல், வேறுபாடு கண்டறிதல், மாறுபாடு அடைதல்

differentiation in Marathi

differentiation, discrimination: भेद bhed

differentiation in Malayalam

distinction, distinctness, difference: വകഭേദം, തരഭേദം, പൃഥക്കരണം, വേർതിരിക്കൽ, അവകലനം, ഭിന്നത

More languagesFewer languages

differentiation in Kannada: ಪಕ್ಷಪಾತ ಮಾಡುವುದು, ತಾರತಮ್ಯ ಮಾಡುವುದು, ಭೇದ ಮಾಡುವುದು, ಕಲನ ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ
differentiation in Tagalog: pag-iiba, pagtitingid
differentiation in Indonesian: turunan
differentiation in Persian: تمایز tamāyoz, برفرودی barforudi

Examples of differentiation in a sentence

Among other forms of change, the evolution of transportation has involved modification, diversification, convergence, divergence, hybridization, differentiation, and naturally, selection.
Basis splines can be used for curve-fitting and numerical differentiation of experimental data, and for shaping curves in computer-aided design.
Every cell in this organism contains a copy of each gene, but whether that copy will be expressed depends on complex factors of cell differentiation and epigenetics.

All 40 example sentences with differentiation

Forms of differentiation

plural	differentiations

Plural of differentiation: differentiations

Origin of differentiation

From differentiate + -ion, from different + -iate, from differ + -ent, from Middle English differen, from Old French differer, from Latin differō (“carry apart, put off, defer; differ”), from dis- (“apart”) + ferō (“carry, bear”); cognate with Ancient Greek διαφέρω (diaphérō, “to differ”).

Words formed from differentiation

Phrases with differentiation

clusters of differentiation

Words that rhyme with differentiation

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about differentiation

What does differentiation mean?: Differentiation means 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.
What is differentiation in Hindi?: Differentiation in Hindi is विभेदन (vibhedan), विभेदीकरण (vibhedīkraṇ), विभेदनज़्ज़्ज़्ज़्ज़्ज़् (vibhedan). See Differentiation meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is differentiation?: Differentiation is a noun.
How do you pronounce differentiation?: Differentiation is pronounced /dɪf.əˌɹɛn.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/ (UK).
What is the plural of differentiation?: The plural of differentiation is differentiations.

Words near differentiation in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: differentiation (page history and authors); differentiation (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); भेद (Marathi) (page history and authors); differentiation (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); differentiation (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-differentiation.wav.

Cite this entry: “differentiation.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/differentiation. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.