differ

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   be of different opinions

   I beg to differ!

2. 2
   verb

   be different

   These two tests differ in only one respect

3. 3
   verb

   Not to have the same traits or characteristics; to be unalike or distinct.

   When we look to the individuals of the same variety or sub-variety of our older cultivated plants and animals, one of the first points which strikes us, is, that they generally differ much more from each other, than do the individuals of any one species or variety in a state of nature.

4. 4
   noun

   A program that diffs, a diff.

Etymology

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.