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Tag: various

Diverse is different

2025-08-14 / / 0 Comments

In a previous blog post we looked at the difference between different and various.

Another word that is used when we talk about difference is diverse.

Diverse indicates that people or things are very different from each other, that they come in a great variety of possible types, styles, etc.

The club offers diverse leisure activities such as golf, hiking, and canoeing.

A sign in a bar offering a diverse drink menu.
The bar offered a diverse drink menu.

Another use of the word (and the corresponding noun diversity) is now mainly to refer to people from different social, cultural or ethnic backgrounds, different genders, sexual orientations, etc.

President Trump issued a series of executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the public and private sectors.

Diverse comes from Latin divertere, to turn in separate ways. 

What’s the difference between different and various?

2023-04-24 / / 0 Comments

In my job as copyeditor I notice that writers tend to overuse different when they should write various instead.

Different, as you know, means that something is not the same as something else. One thing is different from another thing, or two or more things are different, not alike.

A young man and a middle-aged man wearing different models of sunglasses. The image illustrates the difference between different and various.
They have different models of sunglasses

Various implies that there is a variety among things; there are several different variants of something. Various is used before a plural noun about things that are of the same type but not all of exactly the same kind.

A display of various models and colours of sunglasses. The image illustrates the difference between different and various.
Various models and colours of sunglasses

Usually, the preposition from comes after different: Her latest novel is very different from anything she has written before. However, some writers prefer than after different. I would use than only with the comparative form: These two are more different than those.  Different than is common in US English. Sometimes I also see different to, which seems to be more common in British English, but you should avoid using different to in writing.

I recommend that you write different when you want to emphasise that there really is a difference. And write from instead of than or to! Write various to indicate that there are several types that are different from each other, that there is a variety of things.

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