Dictionary

differentness en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ▲ Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu. Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti Proto-Italic *ferō Latin ferō Latin differō Latin differēnsder. Old French differentbor. Middle English different English different Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English differentness From different + -ness.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The state or quality of being different.
   • Only recently […] have biographies incorporated an analysis of an individual's sexuality, not in some vulgar Freudian sense, but as helping to explain someone's internal sense of differentness or specialness — or, as I suspect in Lowenstein's case, aloneness — that becomes a springboard for a special life. 1985 August 24, Gordon Gottlieb, “CIA-Baiting a Liberal Closet Queen”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 7, page 14:
2. (countable) The result or product of being different.

Forms