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Different vs Vary - What's the difference?

different | vary |

As nouns the difference between different and vary

is that different is the different ideal while vary is alteration; change.

As an adjective different

is not the same; exhibiting a difference.

As a verb vary is

to change with time or a similar parameter.

different

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Not the same; exhibiting a difference.
  • *
  • * 1971 , William S. Burroughs, , page 6
  • Enter the American tourist. He thinks of himself as a good guy but when he looks in the mirror to shave this good guy he has to admit that "well, other people are different from me and I don't really like them." This makes him feel guilty toward other people.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author= Ian Sample
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=34, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains , passage=Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.  ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.}}
  • Various, assorted, diverse.
  • * 2006 , Delbert S. Elliott et al., Good Kids from Bad Neighborhoods: Successful Development in Social Context , Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521863575, page 19:
  • In any case, poor black respondents living in high-poverty neighborhoods are most likely to view their neighborhood as a single block or block group and to use this definition consistently when asked about different neighborhood characteristics and activities.
  • Distinct, separate; (used for emphasis after numbers and other determiners of quantity).
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Charles T. Ambrose
  • , title= Alzheimer’s Disease , volume=101, issue=3, page=200, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.}}
  • Unlike most others; unusual.
  • Usage notes

    * (not the same) Depending on dialect, time period, and register, the adjective may be construed with one of the prepositions (from), (to), and (than), or with the subordinating conjunction (than).
    Pleasure is different from'''/'''than'''/'''to''' happiness.''
    ''It's different '''than''' ''(or '''''from what'' )'' I expected.
    Of these, (term) is more common in formal registers than in informal ones, and more common in the US than elsewhere; (term) is more common in the US than elsewhere; and (term) is more common in the UK, in Australia, and in New Zealand than in the US. Style guides often advocate (term), by analogy with (term) rather than *(term) or *(term), and (term) and (term).

    Synonyms

    * distinct

    Antonyms

    * alike * identical * same * similar * undifferent

    Derived terms

    * different as chalk and cheese * different drummer * different ideal * different light * different strokes * horse of a different color * march to the beat of a different drum

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (mathematics) The different ideal.
  • vary

    English

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To change with time or a similar parameter.
  • He varies his magic tricks so as to minimize the possibility that any given audience member will see the same trick twice.
  • To institute a change in, from a current state; to modify.
  • You should vary your diet. Eating just bread will do you harm in the end.
  • * Waller
  • Gods, that never change their state, / Vary oft their love and hate.
  • * Dryden
  • We are to vary the customs according to the time and country where the scene of action lies.
  • Not to remain constant: to change with time or a similar parameter.
  • His mood varies by the hour.
    The sine function varies between &
  • x2212;1 and 1.
  • * Addison
  • While fear and anger, with alternate grace, / Pant in her breast, and vary in her face.
  • (of the members of a group) To display differences.
  • ''The sprouting tendency of potatoes varies between cultivars, years and places of growing.
  • To be or act different from the usual.
  • I'm not comfortable with 3.Nc3 in the Caro-Kann, so I decided to vary and play exd5.
  • To make of different kinds; to make different from one another; to diversity; to variegate.
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
  • God hath varied their inclinations.
  • * Milton
  • God hath here / Varied his bounty so with new delights.
  • (music) To embellish; to change fancifully; to present under new aspects, as of form, key, measure, etc. See variation .
  • (obsolete) To disagree; to be at variance or in dissension.
  • * Webster (1623)
  • the rich jewel which we vary for

    Noun

    (-)
  • (obsolete) Alteration; change.
  • (Shakespeare)

    Anagrams

    * ----