differentiation

Meanings

Plural: differentiations

Noun

• a discrimination between things as different and distinct
• the mathematical process of obtaining the derivative of a function
• (biology) the structural adaptation of some body part for a particular function
  • "cell differentiation in the developing embryo"
• The act or process of differentiating (generally, without a specialized sense).
• The act of treating one thing as distinct from another, or of creating such a distinction; of separating a class of things into categories; of describing a thing by illustrating how it is different from something else.
• The act or process of differentiating (generally, without a specialized sense).
• The process of developing distinct components.
• The process by which the components of multicellular life (cells, organs, etc.) are produced and acquire function, as when a seed develops the root and stem, and the initial stem develops the leaf, branches, and flower buds.
• The evolutionary process by which one taxonomic group (species, genus, variety, etc.) becomes distinct from another, or acquires distinct features; the result of such a process: distinctness.
• The process of separation of cooling magma into various rock types.
• The process of applying the derivative operator to a function; of calculating a function's derivative.

Synonyms

distinction, specialisation, specialization

Related Words

differ, difference, different, differential, differentiate