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disparate

UK/ˈdɪsp(ə)ɹət/US/ˈdɪsp(ə)ɹət/
adjectiveC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,448 of 15,258leans written

Disparate means so different in kind that comparison is hard. Disparate elements, wildly disparate, disparate sources.

It is not merely different but different in nature, which is why disparate sources are harder to combine than merely varied ones. It is a different word from desperate, and the two are misread constantly.

Definitions of disparate

  1. 1adjectivedisparateSo different in kind that comparison is hard.C1

    “The book brings together disparate subjects, from cooking to astronomy.”

disparate is a quality.

Where it comes from

Latin disparatus means separated, from dis- plus parare, to prepare, influenced by dispar, unequal.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *per-

  2. Latin

    disparātus

  3. Middle French

    desparat

  4. English, today

    disparate

Built from

  • disparō · Latin — to divide
  • dis- · Latin — apart
  • parō · Latin — to arrange
  • *per- · Proto-Indo-European — carry forth

Borrowed from Middle French desparat, from Latin disparātus. 1586; either Middle French desparat or directly from Latin disparātus, perfect passive participle of disparō (“to divide”) (see -ate and -ate), from dis- (“apart”) + parō (“to arrange”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European dwóh₁ (“two”) and the root per- (“carry forth”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

disparate in the wild

  • The term is loosely defined and has been applied inconsistently to a wide variety of disparate artists.

    Beatlesque

  • Pigeonholing is a process that attempts to classify disparate entities into a limited number of categories (usually, mutually exclusive ones).

    Pigeonholing

  • Federated search can be used to integrate disparate information resources within a single large organization ("enterprise") or for the entire web.

    Federated search

  • Lee had also kept various notes throughout the development of his combat philosophy and these would become the disparate notes used in the book.

    Tao of Jeet Kune Do

  • The combination of the "core set of writings" and the "disparate notes" would be known as the text Tao of Jeet Kune Do.

    Tao of Jeet Kune Do

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the parō family

prepare

disparate — used about once every 23,598 pages · #13,448 · point at the bar for the others