Differentia

Quick meaning: Differentia is a noun meaning (logic, semantics, taxonomy) A distinguishing feature which marks a species off from other members of the same genus.

Meaning

(logic, semantics, taxonomy) A distinguishing feature which marks a species off from other members of the same genus.

Example Sentences

In the case of a word like “surfboard,” the differentiae seem pretty clear. How is this board different from all other boards?

That character, it seems to me, should be regarded as the practically important differentia of religion for our purpose; and just what it is can easily be brought out by comparing the mind of an abstractly conceived Christian with that of a moralist similarly conceived.

If genera are different and co-ordinate, their differentiae are themselves different in kind. Take as an instance the genus ‘animal’ and the genus ‘knowledge’. ‘With feet’, ‘two-footed’, ‘winged’, ‘aquatic’, are differentiae of ‘animal’; the species of knowledge are not distinguished by the same differentiae.

Word Forms

• differentiae

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include differentiation, dimorphism, diergism, discrimen, odortype, dichotomy.

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