different

different, diverse, divergent, disparate, various are comparable when they are used to qualify plural nouns and mean not identical or alike in kind or character.

Different often implies little more than distinctness or separateness

{

four different persons told me the same story

}

Sometimes, however, it implies contrast or contrariness

{

they approached the subject from different points of view

}

{

vastly different in size than it was twenty-five years ago— N. M. Pusey

}

Diverse is stronger and implies marked difference and decided contrast

{

I obtained from three cultivated Englishmen at different times three diverse pro-nunciations of a single word— J. R. Lowell

}

{

a curious fusion of diverse elements— Van Vechten

}

Divergent implies movement apart or along different courses and usually connotes the impossibility of an ultimate meeting, combination, or reconciliation

{

they took divergent paths

}

{

he was bothered very much by divergent strands in his own intellectual composition— H. G. Wells

}

{

he recognized that labor and capital have divergent interests— Cohen

}

Disparate implies absolute or essential difference, often as between incongruous or incompatible elements

{

two divergent, yet not wholly disparate emotions— Myers

}

{

for if men are so diverse, not less disparate are the many men who keep discordant company within each one of us— Pater

}

Various (see also MANY) commonly lays stress on the number of sorts or kinds

{

in various shapes of parsons, critics, beaus— Pope

}

{

an exuberant energy which displayed itself in various fields— Ellis

}

Analogous words: *distinct, separate, several: *single, particular: various, sundry, divers (see MANY)

Antonyms: identical, alike, same

Contrasted words: similar, *like, uniform, akin, analogous, comparable