differ
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to have a different opinion from someone else.
v.to hold a different opinion or to be at variance. Often used in the polite phrase 'I beg to differ'.
Simple“I'm sorry, but I must differ with you on that point.”
In context“Medical experts continue to differ on the long-term effects of the new treatment, leading to a delay in its general approval.”
- 02 C1 Advanced
n.a program or result that shows the differences between two computer files.
n.a software utility that compares two files and outputs the differences between them; also the output itself. Often used as a shortened form of 'difference'.
Simple“You can run a differ to see what changed in the code since yesterday.”
In context“After the merge conflict occurred, the developer used a differ to identify the specific lines of code that were causing the incompatibility.”
UsageOften used as a verb in the same context to mean 'to run a comparison'.
Synonyms
Usage differ depending · approach differ · condition differ
“These features differ from those documented in previously known mosasaurs.”
“Maybe you can learn how gene expression differs in the cells of younger and older people, or whether different patients' cells respond differently to the same treatments.”
From Middle English differren, from Old French differer, from Latin differō (“carry apart, put off, defer; differ”), from dis- (“apart”) + ferō (“carry, bear”). Compare Ancient Greek διαφέρω (diaphérō). Doublet of defer and dilate, see also infer, confer and collate, refer and relate, as well as prefer and prelate among others.
From diff + -er.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.