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Unit vs Department - What's the difference?

unit | department |

In historical terms the difference between department and unit

is that department is a military subdivision of a country; as, the Department of the Potomac while unit is a gold coin of the reign of James I, worth twenty shillings.

As nouns the difference between department and unit

is that department is a part, portion, or subdivision while unit is a standard measure of a quantity.

As an adjective unit is

for each unit.

unit

English

(Unit)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (sciences) A standard measure of a quantity.
    • The centimetre is a unit of length.
  • The number one.
    • This pill provides 500 units of Vitamin E.
  • An organized group comprising people and/or equipment.
    • He was a member of a special police unit .
  • (military, informal) A member of a military organization.
    • The fifth tank brigade moved in with 20 units .'' (''i.e., 20 tanks )
  • (US, military) Any military element whose structure is prescribed by competent authority, such as a table of organization and equipment; specifically, part of an organizationJoint Publication 1-02 U.S. Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms; 12 April 2001 (As Amended Through 14 April 2006). .
  • (US, military) An organization title of a subdivision of a group in a task force.
  • (US, military) A standard or basic quantity into which an item of supply is divided, issued or used. In this meaning, also called unit of issue.
  • (US, military) With regard to Reserve Components of the Armed Forces, denotes a Selected Reserve unit organized, equipped, and trained for mobilization to serve on active duty as a unit or to augment or be augmented by another unit. Headquarters and support functions without wartime missions are not considered units.
  • (algebra) An element of a ring having a multiplicative inverse. (Formerly just the identity element 1R of a ring.)
  • (geology) A volume of rock or ice of identifiable origin and age range that is defined by the distinctive and dominant, easily mapped and recognizable petrographic, lithologic or paleontologic features (facies) that characterize it.
  • (commerce) An item which may be sold singly.
    • We shipped nearly twice as many units this month as last month.
  • (UK, electricity) One kilowatt-hour (as recorded on an electricity meter).
  • (Australia, New Zealand) a measure of housing equivalent to the living quarters of one household, an apartment where a group of apartments is contained in one or more multi-storied buildings or a group of dwellings is in one or more single storey buildings, usually arranged around a driveway.
  • (historical) A gold coin of the reign of James I, worth twenty shillings.
    • (Camden)

    Synonyms

    * (identity element) identity element, unit element

    Adjective

    (-)
  • For each unit.
    • We have to keep our unit costs down if we want to make a profit.
  • (mathematics) Having a size or magnitude of one.
  • * 1990 , William W. S. Wei, Time Series Analysis , ISBN 0201159112, page 9:
    • Consider the following time sequence
  • *:: Z_t=A\sin(\omega t+\theta),
    • where A is a random variable with a zero mean and a unit variance and \theta is a random variable with a uniform distribution on the interval [-\pi,\pi] independent of A.

    Derived terms

    * construction unit * tractor unit * unit aircraft * unitality * unit cost * unit combat readiness * unit commitment status * unit designation list

    References

    External links

    * * *

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    department

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A part, portion, or subdivision.
  • A distinct course of life, action, study, or the like.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2014
    • , date=November 14 , author=Stephen Halliday , title=Scotland 1-0 Republic of Ireland: Maloney the hero , work=The Scotsman citation , page= , passage=Flair and invention were very much at a premium, suffocated by the relentless pace and often fractious nature of proceedings. The absence of James Morrison from the centre of Scotland’s midfield, the West Brom man ruled out on the morning of the game by illness, had already diminished the creative capacity of the home side in that department .}}
  • * (and other bibliographic particulars), (Thomas Babington Macaulay)
  • A subdivision of an organization.
  • # One of the principal divisions of executive government
  • the Treasury Department'''''; ''the '''Department''' of Agriculture''; ''police '''department
  • # One of the divisions of instructions
  • the physics department'''''; ''the gender studies '''department
  • A territorial division; a district; especially, in France, one of the districts composed of several arrondissements into which the country is divided for governmental purposes.
  • * 2002 , , The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to the 1715-99 , Penguin 2003, p. 427:
    • The departments were the bricks from which the edifice of the nation was to be constructed.
  • (label) A military subdivision of a country; as, the Department of the Potomac.
  • (label) Act of departing; departure.
  • * (and other bibliographic particulars), Wotton
    • sudden 'departments from one extreme to another

    Synonyms

    * (distinct course) province, specialty * (division of executive government) ministry

    Derived terms

    * departmental * departmentally

    See also

    * province * state