Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, or showing a difference.
- adj. Constituting or making a difference; distinctive.
- adj. Dependent on or making use of a specific difference or distinction.
- adj. Mathematics Of or relating to differentiation.
- adj. Involving differences in speed or direction of motion.
- n. Mathematics An infinitesimal increment in a variable.
- n. Mathematics The product of the derivative of a function containing one variable and the increment of the independent variable.
- n. Differential gear.
- n. A difference between comparable things, as in wage rate or in price.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Making or exhibiting a difference or distinction; discriminating; distinguishing; special.
- Having or exhibiting a difference.
- In mathematics, pertaining to a differential or differentials, or to mathematical processes in which they are employed.
- n. In math.: An infinitesimal difference between two values of a variable quantity. In the differential and integral calculus, if two or more quantities are dependent on one another, and subject to variations of value, their corresponding differentials are any other quantities whose ratios to one another are the limits to which the ratios of the variations approximate, as these variations are reduced nearer and nearer to zero; but the differentials are commonly understood to be infinitesimal.
- n. A logarithmic tangent.
- n. In boil., a morphological difference; a distinction or distinctive characteristic of form or structure: correlated with equivalent.
- In mech.: So constructed that the resulting motion is the algebraic sum of two unequal motions in opposite directions. The resistance moves through a path which is the difference of two velocities impressed by the applied force. Hence a slow motion of the resistance is the consequence of the moving force acting through a considerable space, and a small moving force overcomes great resistance. Used in hoisting-pulleys, double screws, and similar devices.
- Having differing velocities, as automobile driving-shafts when rounding corners and curves, and rollers for grinding grain.
- Selective; having different effects upon different kinds of material: as, differential weathering.
Wiktionary
- adj. of, or relating to a difference
- adj. dependent on, or making a difference; distinctive
- adj. having differences in speed or direction of motion
- adj. mathematics of, or relating to differentiation, or the differential calculus
- n. the differential gear in an automobile etc
- n. a qualitative or quantitative difference between similar or comparable things
- n. mathematics an infinitesimal change in a variable, or the result of differentiation
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Relating to or indicating a difference; creating a difference; discriminating; special.
- adj. (Math.) Of or pertaining to a differential, or to differentials.
- adj. (Mech.) Relating to differences of motion or leverage; producing effects by such differences; said of mechanism.
- n. (Math.) An increment, usually an indefinitely small one, which is given to a variable quantity.
- n. A small difference in rates which competing railroad lines, in establishing a common tariff, allow one of their number to make, in order to get a fair share of the business. The lower rate is called a
differential rate. Differentials are also sometimes granted to cities. - n. 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.
- n. 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.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. involving or containing one or more derivatives
- n. the result of mathematical differentiation; the instantaneous change of one quantity relative to another; df(x)/dx
- n. a bevel gear that permits rotation of two shafts at different speeds; used on the rear axle of automobiles to allow wheels to rotate at different speeds on curves
- adj. relating to or showing a difference
- n. a quality that differentiates between similar things
Examples
“This leads me to suspect that the cost differential is due to:”
Adverse Results for School Vouchers, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“I would say that the least promising source of the differential is valued added from college education.”
Tyler Cowen on Income Inequality, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“But at least price differential is better reflection of the respective quality of both wines then very close RP score.”
Tasting Bordeaux 2005 blind with Robert Parker | Dr Vino's wine blog
“In what way did my doing poorly in differential equations — or for that matter doing extremely well in computer programming or nuclear engineering or whatever — relate to the skills needed to succeed in law school?”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Do Law Schools Seek “Exciting” and “Diverse” Students?
“To give a personal example, I did extremely poorly in differential equations courses in engineering, and did so-so in other math courses.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Do Law Schools Seek “Exciting” and “Diverse” Students?
“The true differential is that the so-called “right to vote” is actaully [sic] a privilege conferred on the individual by the soceity/government [sic].”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Violent Misdemeanants, the Right to Bear Arms, and the Right to Vote
“The true differential is that the so-called “right to vote” is actaully a privilege conferred on the individual by the soceity/government.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Violent Misdemeanants, the Right to Bear Arms, and the Right to Vote
“Put me down as another Pell Grant recipient who has returned several times the value of the grants in differential taxes (i.e. additional taxes paid due to the difference in income between my professional salary and the dead-end job I would probably have had I not gone to college.)”
“The Nail-Biters The World Series teams since 1995 that had the smallest win differential in the first two rounds of the postseason.”
“This contradicts one of baseball's well-respected analytical statistics called Pythagorean Expectation, a measure developed by stat guru Bill James that says a team's run differential is a good determinant for what its winning percentage should be.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘differential’.
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SCIE - EU nomenclature
All the scientific words found in the official EU nomenclature. For the screening I used Vocabgrabber of the Visual Thesaurus.
silicon, silica, shrimp, shelve, shallot, serine, seedling, septic, secretin, seaweed, screening, Scomber and 1171 more...
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SCIE - mathematics
The most frequent words in the titles of mathematical books and journals (www.sciencedirect.com)
surface, administration, project, motion, machine, medical, vision, solid, shape, scheme, income, proceed and 205 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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Mathematics in real life
else if, else, iff, delta, iteration, recursion, recursive, integral, differential, triangulate, cashier can't mak..., days until payday and 8 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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My Words
Words that I use regularly and consider mine.
zen, poser, savvy, angst, flustered, bitter, whatsoever, farfetched, indeed, scenario, inevitable, salvage and 134 more...
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Dain's Words
rabble, terminus, archaic, atavism, demiurge, waylay, syzygy, jocoserious, quark, entropy, cinnabar, shamble and 912 more...
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-tial
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nuwerdna's Words
smegma, defenestration, nubile, zeitgeist, stochastic, ergodic, stability, maudlin, recursion, aversion, agent, set and 239 more...
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[H]ouse
Occam's razor, sarcoidosis, tachycardia, differential, deflecting, projecting, amyloidosis, lumbar puncture
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nfk9595's Words
magnetohydrodynamics, bovine, epistle, gargantuan, kerfuffle, verbiage, morose, coup de main, elan, achtung, uber, verboten and 497 more...
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common words
mei- root words, a changing mixture
common, communion, community, meatus, conge, permeate, irremeable, mew, molt, mutate, commute, permute and 87 more...
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My favorite words
basking, hybrid, air, bliss, sift, differential, pistol, hither, wistful, pensive, further, clouded and 9 more...
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brettl's Words
ginormous, craptastic, vernacular, beau, liminal, asymptote, surge, puerile, lascivious, puerile, super-public, flummoxed and 48 more...
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Cangrejero's Words
hectic, energy, orthogonal, curvilinear, disparate, charlatan, convolution, sophomoric, elasticity, differential, champion, inertia and 9 more...
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mathematics is like breathing
calculus, differential, integral, vector, probability, π, function, differential coef..., logarithm, exponent, binary, denominator
Tweets
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