Other forms: differentiated, differentiating, differentiates
To differentiate is to see or show the difference between things. Telling one from another, and being able to say how.
It takes between two things, or one thing from another: differentiate between the two species, differentiate this product from the rest. Business uses it constantly, since differentiating an offering means giving customers a reason to choose it. Teaching has its own sense, where differentiating a lesson means adapting it to different abilities in one class. Maths uses the word for a quite separate operation in calculus.
1verbdifferentiateTo recognise or state what makes things different.
“It is hard to differentiate between the two recordings.”
2verbdistinctTo make something distinct from its competitors.
“They differentiated the brand on service alone.”
New Latin
differentiātus
English, today
differentiate
Borrowed from New Latin differentiātus, from differentiō, from differentia. From New Latin differentiātus, perfect passive participle of differentiō (see -ate and -ate), from Latin differentia (“difference”); see difference.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA