Differentiation

Quick meaning: Differentiation is a noun meaning The act or process of differentiating (generally, without a specialized sense).

Meaning

The act or process of differentiating (generally, without a specialized sense).

More Meanings

1. (geology) The process of separation of cooling magma into various rock types.
2. (mathematics, calculus) The process of applying the derivative operator to a function; of calculating a function's derivative.
3. (biology, evolution) 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.
4. (biology) 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.

Example Sentences

Any hope that the pierines would help to define “the level at which r-K phenomena should be sought has been dashed: apparently species groups (or subgenera, or splitters' genera) are r- or K-selected in the holarctic, whereas in Tatochila the same amount of differentiation is found among populations in a complex in which the process of speciation has not yet been completed.

The integration and differentiation of vital function on the one hand, and the preparation and composition of food-material on the other hand form — as we will become fully aware further on — the two great divisions in the subject-matter of the science of organization, divisions corresponding to the fundamental biplicity of all advanced organization, its animal and its vegetative life.

Word Forms

• differentiations

Synonyms for differentiation

Depending on context, synonyms include distinction, specialization, specialisation.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include distinction, specialization, specialisation, differential, difference, distinctness.

Related Dictionary Tools