What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Informant vs Mole - What's the difference?

informant | mole |

As nouns the difference between informant and mole

is that informant is one who relays confidential information to someone, especially to the police; an informer while mole is a pigmented spot on the skin, a naevus, slightly raised, and sometimes hairy.

As a proper noun Mole is

a river in Surrey, England.

informant

Noun

(en noun)
  • One who relays confidential information to someone, especially to the police; an informer.
  • (linguistics) A native speaker who acts as a linguistic reference for a language being studied. The informant demonstrates native pronunciation, provides grammaticality judgments regarding linguistic well-formedness, and may also explain cultural references and other important contextual information.
  • * 1977 , A. E. Kibrik, The methodology of field investigations in linguistics
  • The only material the linguist has to begin with are the informant' s grammatical utterances in the target language pronounced arbitrarily in a natural or assigned communicative situation or stimulated artificially by the investigator.
  • * 2003 , Sergei Nirenburg, H. L. Somers, Yorick Wilks, Readings in machine translation (page 116)
  • The informant learns his language by formal training and, more importantly, by constant exposure to its use. He cannot repeat to the linguist what he has never seen or heard.

    Synonyms

    * (one who relays confidential information ): blabber, gossip, narc, stool pigeon, tattletale, rat, canary, snitch, stoolie, squealer, grass, bigmouth * See also

    See also

    * name names ----

    mole

    English

    (wikipedia mole)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) mole, mool, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A pigmented spot on the skin, a naevus, slightly raised, and sometimes hairy.
  • Synonyms
    * birthmark * nevus, naevus,

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) mol, molde, molle, from (etyl) . Derivation as an abbreviation of (etyl) molewarpe, a variation of moldewarpe, in Middle English is unexplained and probably unlikely due to the simultaneous occurrence of both words. See mouldwarp.

    Alternative forms

    * mool, moule, mowle, mold (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any of several small, burrowing insectivores of the family Talpidae.
  • Any of the burrowing rodents also called mole rats.
  • (espionage) An internal spy, a person who involves himself or herself with an enemy organisation, especially an intelligence or governmental organisation, to determine and betray its secrets from within.
  • A kind of self-propelled excavator used to form underground drains, or to clear underground pipelines
  • Derived terms
    * golden mole * mole crab * mole cricket * mole rat * mole run * mole salamander
    Synonyms
    * mouldwarp

    Etymology 3

    From moll'' (from ''Moll'', an archaic nickname for ''Mary''), influenced by the spelling of the word ''mole ("an internal spy"), and due to /m?l/ and /m??l/ merging as [mo?l] in the Australian accent.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A moll, a bitch, a slut.
  • Synonyms
    * moll

    Etymology 4

    (etyl) or (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (nautical) A massive structure, usually of stone, used as a pier, breakwater or junction between places separated by water. mole (accessed: March 30, 2007)
  • * 1847 — George A. Fisk, A pastor's memorial of the holy land
  • [Alexander the Great] then conceived the stupendous idea of constructing a mole , which should at once connect [Tyre] with the main land; and this was actually accomplished by driving piles and pouring in incalculable quantities of soil and fragments of rock; and it is generally believed, partly on the authority of ancient authors, that the whole ruins of Old Tyre were absorbed in this vast enterprize, and buried in the depths of the sea [...]
  • * 1983 — Archibald Lyall, Arthur Norman Brangham, The companion guide to the south of France
  • [about Saint-Tropez] Yachts and fishing boats fill the little square of water, which is surrounded on two sides by quays, on the third by a small ship-repairing yard and on the fourth by the mole where the fishing boats moor and the nets are spread out to dry.
  • (rare) A haven or harbour, protected with such a breakwater.
  • Etymology 5

    (1897) (etyl) Mol.

    Alternative forms

    * mol (dated)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (chemistry, physics) In the International System of Units, the base unit of amount of substance; the amount of substance of a system which contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kg]] of . Symbol: mol. The number of atoms is known as [[Avogadro's number, Avogadro’s number
  • Synonyms
    * gram molecule

    Etymology 6

    (hydatidiform mole) From (etyl) mola.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A hemorrhagic mass of tissue in the uterus caused by a dead ovum.
  • Etymology 7

    From (etyl), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One of several spicy sauces typical of the cuisine of Mexico and neighboring Central America, especially the sauce which contains chocolate and which is used in cooking main dishes, not desserts. mole (accessed: March 30, 2007)
  • References