Diverges

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To move apart from a shared starting point or common path To evolve in different directions or manifest distinct developments To differ in opinion, style, or characteristics from a common ground
2. To go in different directions after starting together ; to change or develop along separate lines ; to show a difference in views or traits from a shared basis
3. To part ways from an initial shared course ; to branch out into distinct forms or modes ; to hold or express differing beliefs or qualities

Etymology: "Diverges" is the third-person singular form of "diverge", so its history is that of the verb. The root is Latin "vergere", meaning "to bend" or "to incline", which is also the source of "verge", as in the edge of something. The prefix "dis-" (in its variant "di-") adds the sense of "apart" or "away", so the original image is of a path or line bending away from another. The verb was formed in Medieval Latin as "divergere", meaning "bend away from, go in a different direction", and English took it over from that Latin base. Its physical sense of two lines or roads parting company came first, and the extended senses of separating opinions, characters or developments followed naturally from that picture of bending apart.

Synonyms: deviates, separates, dissociates

Antonyms: converges, meets, unites