Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Irregular in form; not uniform; anomalous; deformed.
  • Unlike; dissimilar.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Irregular in form; -- opposed to uniform; anomalous; hence, unlike; dissimilar

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective irregular in form; not uniform; anomalous or dissimilar

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Compare French difforme, from Latin dif- = dis- + forma form. Compare deform.

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Examples

  • In furnishing examples of motions that are “uniformly difform” (i.e., uniformly accelerated) with respect to time, Soto explicitly men - tions that freely falling bodies accelerate uniformly as they fall and that projectiles (presumably thrown up - ward) undergo a uniform deceleration; thus he saw the distance in both cases to be a function of the time of travel.

    Dictionary of the History of Ideas WILLIAM A. WALLACE 1968

  • In its early stages the literary and humanistic preoccupations and the conviction of the vast superi - ority of antiquity to anything offered by the medievals no doubt led to the neglect of some interesting medie - val inquiries e.g., those into “uniform difform” (uni - formly accelerated) motions just as the logical, cosmo - logical, and theological preoccupations of the thirteenth century had probably retarded a literary renascence.

    Dictionary of the History of Ideas HAROLD J. JOHNSON 1968

  • Noteworthy is the commentary of Gaetano da Thiene, who illustrated much of Heytesbury's abstract reason - ing on uniform and difform motions with examples drawn from nature and from artifacts that might be constructed from materials close at hand.

    Dictionary of the History of Ideas WILLIAM A. WALLACE 1968

  • "It would be ... let me see, now -" The almost automatic processes of Libby's brain started running off the unbelievably huge and complex problem in accelerations, intervals, difform motion.

    The Past Through Tomorrow Heinlein, Robert A. 1967

  • "It would be ... let me see, now -" The almost automatic processes of Libby's brain started running off the unbelievably huge and complex problem in accelerations, intervals, difform motion.

    Methuselah's Children Heinlein, Robert A. 1958

  • At the worst, this difform liberty of presenting ourselves two several ways, the actions after one manner and the reasoning after another, may be allowed to those who only speak of things; but it cannot be allowed to those who speak of themselves, as I do: I must march my pen as I do my feet.

    The Essays of Montaigne — Complete Michel de Montaigne 1562

  • If we have not known how to live, 'tis injustice to teach us how to die, and make the end difform from all the rest; if we have known how to live firmly and quietly, we shall know how to die so too.

    The Essays of Montaigne — Complete Michel de Montaigne 1562

  • If we have not known how to live, 'tis injustice to teach us how to die, and make the end difform from all the rest; if we have known how to live firmly and quietly, we shall know how to die so too.

    The Essays of Montaigne — Volume 18 Michel de Montaigne 1562

  • At the worst, this difform liberty of presenting ourselves two several ways, the actions after one manner and the reasoning after another, may be allowed to those who only speak of things; but it cannot be allowed to those who speak of themselves, as I do: I must march my pen as I do my feet.

    The Essays of Montaigne — Volume 17 Michel de Montaigne 1562

  • A difform, ano - malous, or irregular flower, or corolla. —

    The language of botany : being a dictionary of the terms made use of in that science, principally by Linneus ... 1793

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