Differs

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To present a contrast or variation when compared to something else
2. To show a variation or contrast in qualities or characteristics compared to something else
3. To be unlike or distinct from another in characteristics or qualities

Etymology: The verb "differ" is a bit of a family reunion: it descends from a Latin verb whose core sense was physical. Latin "differre" combined "dis-", meaning "apart", with "ferre", meaning "carry" or "bear", so its literal idea was carrying things in different directions. Its senses of putting something off or deferring came from the same root, and that is why "differ" is a doublet of "defer" and "dilate", words that entered English along separate routes from the same Latin source. The English verb reached us through Old French "differer" and appeared in Middle English as "differren". Its meaning of being unlike was built out of the older sense of carrying apart: things that are pulled in different directions are no longer the same. The Greek "diaphérō" follows the same pattern, which shows that the image of bearing things apart was a shared way of thinking about difference.

Synonyms: varies, deviates, diverges, contrasts, disagrees

Antonyms: matches, agrees, aligns, conforms, coincides