differentiate

verb

1. (transitive)To modify so as to create a difference or distinction.

   “A humble instance of Ablaut may be quoted which took place in the seventeenth century, when the word then was differentiated into the two forms then and than.”

2. (transitive)To show or be the difference or distinction between things.

   “What differentiates an alligator from a crocodile?”

   “Taste differentiates a gentleman—for instance, Mr. Addison—from a Hottentot or Laplander.”

3. (transitive)To recognize as different or distinct.

   “How do you differentiate a fake smile from a genuine one?”

   “In the earlier chapters uncouth proper names are reduced to a minimum, but the Index refers by name to specific places and persons only generally mentioned in the earlier pages. For instance, the states of Lu and Chêng on pages 22 and 29 : it is hard enough to differentiate Ts‘i, Tsin, Ts‘in, and Ts‘u at the outstart, without crowding the memory with fresh names until the necessity for it absolutely arises.”

   “The mass of the rich and poor are differentiated by their incomes and nothing else, and the average millionaire is only the average dishwasher dressed in a new suit.”

4. (transitive)To calculate the derivative of a function.
5. (transitive)To calculate the differential of a function of multiple variables.
6. (intransitive)To perceive the difference between things; to discriminate.

   “he refused to instruct that actual intent to harm or recklessness had to be found before punitive damages could be awarded, or that a verdict for respondent should differentiate between compensatory and punitive damages.”

7. (intransitive)To teach a lesson in multiple different ways in order to meet the needs of more or less advanced students.

   “Like most teaching, differentiating is a mix of art and science. When it works, "it's like a jazz rhythm," said Carol Tomlinson, an education professor at the University of Virginia and an expert on differentiation.”

   “Moreover, children of STIP-teachers who showed many types of differentiation activities learnt more than children of STIP-teachers who differentiated less.”

   “I use technology to differentiate in my Algebra classroom in many different ways. Sometimes, I put this technology in the hands of students and sometimes I use it myself to streamline a process.”

8. (intransitive, transitive)To (cause to) go through a process of development called differentiation; to make or become different in form or function.

   “In Chapter IV we learned that every animal consists of a body, or soma, formed of cells that are differentiated from the germ cells usually at an early stage of development.”

   “Osteoblasts are derived from stromal cells, a type of connective tissue cell in the bone marrow, whereas osteoclasts differentiate from macrophages, which are tissue-bound derivatives of monocytes, a type of white blood cell (see p. 402).”

noun

1. Something that has been differentiated or stratified.

   “There is no discernable tendency, however, for the differentiates to fall into two extremities, as would be expected if they were trending toward distinct eutectics in a residua system.”

   “This latter terminology is particularly favored by Soviet petrologists, e.g.. Bogatikov et al. (1985), who believe that any magma typically exhibits both agpaitic and miascitic differentiates.”