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Inform vs Express - What's the difference?

inform | express | Related terms |

In transitive terms the difference between inform and express

is that inform is to give form or character to; to inspire (with a given quality); to affect, influence (with a pervading principle, idea etc.) while express is to press, squeeze out (especially said of milk).

As verbs the difference between inform and express

is that inform is to instruct, train (usually in matters of knowledge) while express is (to convey meaning) To convey or communicate; to make known or explicit.

As adjectives the difference between inform and express

is that inform is without regular form; shapeless; ugly; deformed while express is moving or operating quickly, as a train not making local stops.

As a noun express is

a mode of transportation, often a train, that travels quickly or directly.

inform

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) informen, enformen, from (etyl) enformer, .

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete)

Verb

(en verb)
  • (archaic) To instruct, train (usually in matters of knowledge).
  • To communicate knowledge to.
  • * Spenser
  • For he would learn their business secretly, / And then inform his master hastily.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I am informed thoroughly of the cause.
  • To impart information or knowledge.
  • To act as an informer; denounce.
  • To give form or character to; to inspire (with a given quality); to affect, influence (with a pervading principle, idea etc.).
  • * {{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.}}
  • * Dryden
  • Let others better mould the running mass / Of metals, and inform the breathing brass.
  • * Prior
  • Breath informs this fleeting frame.
  • (obsolete) To make known, wisely and/or knowledgeably.
  • (obsolete) To direct, guide.
  • (archaic) To take form; to become visible or manifest; to appear.
  • * Shakespeare
  • It is the bloody business which informs / Thus to mine eyes.
    Synonyms
    * acquaint, apprise, notify * (act as informer) dob, name names, peach, snitch
    Derived terms
    * informant * information * informative * informatory * informed * informer * misinform * uninformed

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) (lena) informis

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Without regular form; shapeless; ugly; deformed.
  • (Cotton)

    Anagrams

    *

    express

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) , from (etyl) expressus, past participle of (exprimere) (see Etymology 2, below).

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (not comparable) Moving or operating quickly, as a train not making local stops.
  • (comparable) Specific or precise; directly and distinctly stated; not merely implied.
  • I gave him express instructions not to begin until I arrived, but he ignored me.
    This book cannot be copied without the express permission of the publisher.
  • Truly depicted; exactly resembling.
  • In my eyes it bore a livelier image of the spirit, it seemed more express and single, than the imperfect and divided countenance.
  • * Milton
  • Their human countenance / The express resemblance of the gods.
    Synonyms
    * explicit * (of a train) fast, crack
    Antonyms
    * implied

    Noun

    (es)
  • A mode of transportation, often a train, that travels quickly or directly.
  • I took the express into town.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1931, author=
  • , title=Death Walks in Eastrepps , chapter=1/1 citation , passage=The train was moving less fast through the summer night. The swift express had changed into something almost a parliamentary, had stopped three times since Norwich, and now, at long last, was approaching Banton.}}
  • A service that allows mail or money to be sent rapidly from one destination to another.
  • An express rifle.
  • * H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines
  • "Give me my express ," I said, laying down the Winchester, and he handed it to me cocked.
  • (obsolete) A clear image or representation; an expression; a plain declaration.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
  • the only remanent express of Christ's sacrifice on earth
  • A messenger sent on a special errand; a courier.
  • An express office.
  • * E. E. Hale
  • She charged him to ask at the express if anything came up from town.
  • That which is sent by an express messenger or message.
  • (Eikon Basilike)
    Synonyms
    * (of a train) fast train
    Antonyms
    * (of a train) local, stopper

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) espresser, (expresser), from frequentative form of (etyl) exprimere.

    Verb

    (es)
  • (senseid) To convey or communicate; to make known or explicit.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith. As we reached the lodge we heard the whistle, and we backed up against one side of the platform as the train pulled up at the other.}}
  • To press, squeeze out (especially said of milk).
  • * 1851 , (Herman Melville), (Moby-Dick) ,
  • The people of his island of Rokovoko, it seems, at their wedding feasts express the fragrant water of young cocoanuts into a large stained calabash like a punchbowl [...].
  • (biochemistry) To translate messenger RNA into protein.
  • (biochemistry) To transcribe deoxyribonucleic acid into messenger RNA.
  • Synonyms
    * (l), (l)

    Noun

    (expresses)
  • (obsolete) The action of conveying some idea using words or actions; communication, expression.
  • * 1646 , Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica , V.20:
  • Whereby they discoursed in silence, and were intuitively understood from the theory of their expresses .
  • (obsolete) A specific statement or instruction.
  • * 1646 , (Sir Thomas Browne), Pseudodoxia Epidemica , II.5:
  • This Gentleman [...] caused a man to go down no less than a hundred fathom, with express to take notice whether it were hard or soft in the place where it groweth.