difference

noun

set of properties by which one entity is distinguished from another
result of a subtraction; sometimes the absolute value of this result

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈdɪf(ə)ɹəns/

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti Proto-Italic *ferō Latin ferō Latin differō Latin differēns Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin differentiader. Old French differencebor. Middle English difference English difference From Middle English difference, from Old French difference, from Latin differentia (“difference”), from differēns (“different”), present participle of differre. Doublet of differentia. Morphologically differ + -ence.

The quality of being different.
“You need to learn to be more tolerant of difference.”
A characteristic of something that makes it different from something else.
“There are three differences between these two pictures.”
“But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 (the average of the 15 poorest countries’ own poverty lines, measured in 2005 dollars and adjusted for differences in purchasing power): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.”
A disagreement or argument.
“We have our little differences, but we are firm friends.”
“What was the difference? It was a contention in public.”
Significant change in or effect on a situation or state.
“It just won't make much difference to me.”
“It just won't make much of a difference to anyone.”
The result of a subtraction; sometimes the absolute value of this result.
“The difference between 3 and 21 is 18.”
Choice; preference.
“That now be chooseth with vile difference To be a beast, and lack intelligence.”
An addition to a coat of arms to distinguish two people's bearings which would otherwise be the same. See augmentation and cadency.
The quality or attribute which is added to those of the genus to constitute a species; a differentia.
A Boolean operation which is true when the two input variables are different but is otherwise false; the XOR operation ( scriptstyle A◌̅B+◌̅AB).
The set of elements that are in one set but not another ( scriptstyle A◌̅B).

verb

To distinguish or differentiate.
“This simple spectation of the lungs is differenced from that which concomitates a pleurisy.”
“[…] and souls, like in the mass, but differenced in themselves, with special gifts, duties and joys […]”
to modify a heraldic emblem so as to distinguish one branch of a house from another