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Facet vs Detail - What's the difference?

facet | detail |

As nouns the difference between facet and detail

is that facet is any one of the flat surfaces cut into a gem while detail is something small enough to escape casual notice.

As verbs the difference between facet and detail

is that facet is to cut a facet into a gemstone while detail is to explain in detail.

facet

English

(wikipedia facet)

Noun

(en noun)
  • Any one of the flat surfaces cut into a gem.
  • This facet of the diamond was masterfully cut to enhance its value.
  • One among many similar or related, yet still distinct things.
  • The child's learning disability was only one facet of the problems contributing to his delinquency.
  • One of a series of things, such as steps in a project.
  • We had just about completed the research facet of the project when the order came to cancel it .
  • (anatomy) One member of a compound eye, as found in insects and crustaceans.
  • (anatomy) A smooth circumscribed surface.
  • the articular facet of a bone
  • (architecture) The narrow plane surface between flutings of a column.
  • (mathematics) A face of codimension 1 of a polytope.
  • Derived terms

    * multifaceted

    Verb

  • To cut a facet into a gemstone.
  • Usage notes

    * Faceting and faceted are more common in the US. Facetting and facetted are more common in the UK.

    detail

    English

    Noun

  • (countable) Something small enough to escape casual notice.
  • (uncountable) A profusion of details.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Timothy Garton Ash)
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli , passage=Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail , a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.}}
  • Something considered trivial enough to ignore.
  • (countable) A person's name, address and other personal information.
  • (military) A temporary unit or assignment.
  • A part distinct from the whole.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Gary Younge)
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution , passage=WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets. They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.}}
  • A narrative which relates minute points; an account which dwells on particulars.
  • Synonyms

    * (something considered trivial enough to ignore) technicality, trifle, triviality * (personal information) particulars * contingent, detachment

    Derived terms

    * in detail * detail-oriented

    See also

    * overview * bird's-eye view * big picture

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to explain in detail
  • I'll detail the exact procedure to you later.
  • * 2014 , Ian Black, " Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis", The Guardian , 27 November 2014:
  • It is a sunny morning in Amman and the three uniformed judges in Jordan’s state security court are briskly working their way through a pile of slim grey folders on the bench before them. Each details the charges against 25 or so defendants accused of supporting the fighters of the Islamic State (Isis), now rampaging across Syria and Iraq under their sinister black banners and sending nervous jitters across the Arab world.
  • (US (?)) to clean carefully (particularly a car) ()
  • We need to have the minivan detailed .
  • (military) to assign to a particular task
  • Derived terms

    * detailing

    Synonyms

    * (to explain in detail) specify * detach

    Anagrams

    * * English heteronyms ----