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divergent

UK/daɪˈvɜː.d͡ʒənt/US/dɪˈvɝ.d͡ʒənt/
adjectiveC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,141 of 15,258mostly written

Divergent means growing apart, or differing from what is usual. Divergent views, divergent paths, divergent thinking.

Divergent thinking is a named idea in psychology and means generating many possible answers rather than narrowing to one, which is the half of creativity that can be taught. Its opposite is convergent.

Definitions of divergent

  1. 1adjectivedivergentGrowing apart, or differing from what is usual.C1

    “The two brothers followed divergent paths: one became a priest, the other a rock star.”

divergent is a quality.

Where it comes from

Latin divergere means to turn apart, from dis plus vergere, to incline.

  1. Latin

    dis- — apart

  2. English, today

    divergent

Built from

  • vergere · Latin — to turn

From Latin dis- (“apart”) + vergere (“to turn”) + the adjectival suffix -ent.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

divergent in the wild

  • Most active divergent plate boundaries occur between oceanic plates and exist as mid-oceanic ridges.

    Divergent boundary

  • Although Zakhring appears to be Sino-Tibetan, Kaman may be more divergent.

    Miju languages

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.