differentia

Example Sentences

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The differentia is that part of a definition which names the difference between the term defined and the general class to which it belongs.

From English: Composition and Literature by Webster, W. F. (William Franklin)

Swift and Chatterton, with all their vast talents, wanted, we think, the fine differentia, and the genial element of real poetic genius.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 15, August, 1851 by Various

A logical definition consists, then, of two parts: the general term naming the genus, and the limiting term naming the distinguishing attribute called the differentia.

From English: Composition and Literature by Webster, W. F. (William Franklin)

The differentia should include all the members that the term denotes, and it should exclude all that it does not denote.

From English: Composition and Literature by Webster, W. F. (William Franklin)

To quote the differentia of Sir Oliver Lodge: “A solid has volume and shape; a liquid has volume, but no shape; a gas has neither volume nor shape.”

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 4 "G" to "Gaskell, Elizabeth" by Various