Different in kind; widely dissimilar; unlike; foreign; incongruous. If there be the least settlement or heterogeneous matter in any part of it [a liquor], shake it thoroughly, and it will be sure to show itself. South, Works, VI. vii.Courtier and patriot cannot mix Their het'rogeneous politics Without an effervescence. Cowper, Friendship, st. 22.Relatively speaking, a tree is said to be heterogeneous as compared with the seed from which it has sprung; and an orange is heterogeneous as compared with a wooden ball. J. Fiske, Cosmic Philos., I. 336.
Composed of parts of different kinds; having widely unlike elements or constituents: opposed to homogeneous.By a seemingly careless arrangement of his heterogeneous garb, he had endeavored to conceal or abate the peculiarity. Hawthorne, Scarlet Letter, iii.An object is said to be heterogeneous when its parts do not all resemble one another. All known objects are more or less heterogeneous.J. Fiske, Cosmic Philos., I. 336.
Heterogeneous attraction. An attraction between atoms, depending upon their being different in kind; chemical attraction.
Differing in kind; having unlike qualities; possessed of different characteristics; dissimilar; -- opposed to homogeneous, and said of two or more connected objects, or of a conglomerate mass, considered in respect to the parts of which it is made up.
In the attempt to unite qualities so heterogeneous, the effect of each is in a great measure lost, and little better than a caput mortuum remains.
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Lives of the English Poets
Suddenly a voice came from the shadows behind them.
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Dragons of Autumn Twilight
"I just don't bother learning the family name till they've been here for a few centuries."
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Enchantment
She was achingly beautiful.
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A Place Called Freedom
= Frenchhétérogène = Spanishheterogéneo = Portugueseheterogeneo = Italianeterogeneo, from Middle Latinheterogeneus, from Greekἑτερογενής, of different kinds, in grammar of different genders, from ἑτερος, other, different, + γένος, kind, gender: see genus.