Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: French
Origin: différer; DIFFER

different

 adjective
     
dif‧fe‧rent S1 W1
1 not like something or someone else, or not like before [≠ similar]COLLOCATIONS COLLOCATIONS
very/quite different completely/totally/entirely different radically different (=very different) significantly/markedly different (=different in a very noticeable way) slightly different subtly different (=different in a way that is not easy to notice) refreshingly different (=different in a good way) no different (from/to something) a different world (=a very different situation or environment)
different from
Our sons are very different from each other.
different to
Her jacket's different to mine.
different than American English
He seemed different than he did in New York.
The place looks completely different now.
They decided to try a radically different approach.
We found women had significantly different political views from men.
a slightly different way of doing things
What actually happened was subtly different from the PR people's version.
The show is refreshingly different from most exhibitions of modern art.
The publishing business is no different from any other business in this respect.
It's a different world here in London.
! In spoken British English, different from and different to are both common, but teachers prefer different from. Different than is also used in American English and occasionally in British English. Do not say different of.
2 [only before noun] used to talk about two or more separate things of the same basic kind [= various]:
Different people reacted in different ways.
different types/kinds etc
There are many different types of fabric.
I looked in lots of different books but couldn't find anything about it.
3 [only before noun] another:
I think she's moved to a different job now.
4 spoken unusual, often in a way that you do not like:
'What did you think of the film?' 'Well, it was certainly different.'
—differently adverb:
I didn't expect to be treated any differently from anyone else.
Things could have turned out quite differently.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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