Diverge vs Deflect - What's the difference?

As verbs the difference between diverge and deflect

is that diverge is to run apart; to separate; to tend into different directions while deflect is to make (something) deviate from its original path.

diverge

English

Verb

(diverg)

(intransitive, literally, of lines or paths) To run apart; to separate; to tend into different directions.

* 1916 , :

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both /

To become different; to run apart; to separate; to tend into different directions.

Both stories start out the same way, but they diverge halfway through.

(intransitive, literally, of a line or path) To separate, to tend into a different direction (from another line or path).

The sidewalk runs next to the street for a few miles, then diverges from it and turns north.

To become different, to separate (from another line or path).

The software is pretty good, except for a few cases where its behavior diverges from user expectations.

Not to converge: to have no limit, or no finite limit.

The sequence $x_n = n^2$ diverges to infinity: that is, it increases without bound.

Antonyms

* converge

Derived terms

* divergence * divergent

Anagrams

* ----

deflect

English

Verb

(en verb)

To make (something) deviate from its original path.

To deviate from its original path.

(figuratively) To avoid addressing (questions, criticism, etc.).

The Prime Minister deflected some increasingly pointed questions by claiming he had an appointment.

(figuratively) To divert (attention, etc.).

* 2013 , Luke Harding and Uki Goni, Argentina urges UK to hand back Falklands and 'end colonialism'' (in ''The Guardian , 3 January 2013)[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/02/argentina-britain-hand-back-falklands]

Critics suggest that Fernández, an unashamed populist and nationalist, is seeking to deflect attention from social disharmony at home.