| 释义 |
differentiate, v.|dɪfəˈrɛnʃɪeɪt|
[f. ppl. stem of med.L. differentiāre, f. differentia difference: cf. F. différentier, -encier.]
1. trans. To make or render different; to constitute the difference in or between; to distinguish.
1853De Quincey Autobiog. Sk. Wks. I. 199 note, Genius differentiates a man from all other men. 1872Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 22 The use of fire..constitutes one of the great distinctions by which man is differentiated from the lower animals. 1874L. Stephen Hours in Libr. (1892) II. ii. 48 His language..is sufficiently differentiated from prose by the mould into which it is run.
2. Biol., etc. To make different in the process of growth or development; to make unlike by modification, esp. for a special function or purpose; to specialize. (Chiefly used in pass.)
1858Huxley Oceanic Hydrozoa (Ray Soc.) 22 The substance of the spermarium..becomes differentiated into minute, clear, spherical vesicles. 1869Seeley Lect. & Ess. i. 15 We have heard..of the power which all organisms possess of differentiating special organs to meet special needs. 1871Darwin Desc. Man II. xx. 365 The power of sexual selection in differentiating the tribes. 1874H. R. Reynolds John Bapt. iii. §1. 127 The office of priest..is ultimately differentiated from that of the prophet and the prince. 1874Carpenter Ment. Phys. i. ii. §43 ‘Protoplasm’ or living jelly, which is not yet differentiated into ‘organs’. 1885J. Ball in Jrnl. Linn. Soc. XXII. 26 A very long period of..isolation during which a large number of separate species, and not a few genera, have been differentiated. 1893F. Hall in Nation (N.Y.) LVII. 229/2 As being distinctly differentiated from practiser, it [practitioner] has..unquestionable utility.
b. intr. (for refl.) To become differentiated or specialized.
1874Lewes in Contemp. Rev. Oct. 692 Nebulæ which differentiate into a solar system. 1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 155 Their walls become thickened as they differentiate from the meristem.
3. trans. To observe, note, or ascertain the difference in or between; to discriminate between, distinguish.
1876G. F. Chambers Astron. 915 Differentiate, to fix the position of one celestial object by comparing it with another. 1878M. E. Braddon Open Verd. xxxv. 239 Typhus and typhoid, which two fatal diseases..Jenner was just then seeking to differentiate. 1880R. C. Drysdale in Med. Temp. Jrnl. Oct. 3, I have known some difficulty in differentiating such attacks from those of epilepsy.
b. intr. To recognize the difference.
1891J. Jastrow in Educat. Rev. I. 258 One important use of child study is to differentiate between functions that in the adult have become merged.
4. Math. To obtain the differential or the differential coefficient of.
1816tr. Lacroix's Diff. & Int. Calculus 18 The differential coefficient being a new function..may itself be differentiated. 1882Minchin Unipl. Kinemat. 229 Differentiate this equation first with respect to ξ and then with respect to η.
Hence diffeˈrentiated ppl. a., diffeˈrentiating vbl. n. and ppl. a.; also diffeˈrentiator, he who or that which differentiates.
1861H. Macmillan Footn. Page Nat. 203 In the fungi, however, there is little or nothing of this specializing or differentiating process. Their entire structure is uniform. 1864H. Spencer Illust. Univ. Progr. 3 Each of these differentiated divisions..begins itself to exhibit some contrast of parts. 1871Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) I. xx. 490 The differentiating influence of ‘environment’ on two minds of similar natural cast. 1888R. F. Littledale in Academy 7 July 6/1 No impression of conscious imitation..but only that of differentiated heredity. Mod. (Math.) The result can be obtained by differentiating. |