divergence

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noun di·ver·gence \ -ˈvər-jən(t)s \

Definition of divergence

1 a :a drawing apart (as of lines extending from a common center)

b :difference, disagreement

c :the acquisition of dissimilar characters by related organisms in unlike environments

2 :a deviation from a course or standard

3 :the condition of being mathematically divergent

See divergence defined for kids

Examples of divergence in a Sentence

a growing divergence of opinion about that U.S. president's place in history
any divergence from the community's strict moral code was met with social ostracism

Recent Examples of divergence from the Web

A big factor in the divergence, Storper and his colleagues found, is that the Bay Area developed collaborative organizations, such as the Bay Area Council, that have fostered technology’s expansion.

— joe donatelli, Los Angeles Magazine, "Southern California Used to Carry the State Economy. Now the North Does. What Happened?," 14 Aug. 2017
The divorce rate has leveled off in American society writ large since the 1980s, but there has been a dramatic divergence based on education: The divorce rate for college graduates is about half that of those without a degree.

— max bloom, National Review, "The Strange Traditionalism of the Liberal Elite," 19 July 2017
Since then, the geopolitical story has been the dissolution of this global consensus—convergence replaced by divergence.

— thomas wright, The Atlantic, "The G20 Is Obsolete," 11 July 2017
The divergence in annual salaries is so stark that the new collective-bargaining agreement that went into place on July 1 allows teams to smooth the annual salaries of any new such agreements.

— ira winderman, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Miami Heat now free to trade Tyler Johnson without veto possibility," 10 July 2017
The researchers suggest that this divergence could reflects an early wave of intermingling between humans and Neanderthals.

— jason daley, Smithsonian, "Humans May Have Bred With Neanderthals Much Earlier Than Previously Thought," 5 July 2017
And the divergence date between us and them, when estimated based on mtDNA, is much more recent—between 498,000 and 295,000 years ago.

— cathleen o'grady, Ars Technica, "Neanderthal DNA suggests yet another wave of human migration out of Africa," 5 July 2017
But there was little divergence apparent between the two leaders on the issue of North Korea.

— matthew pennington, chicagotribune.com, "U.S.-South Korea summit exposes spat on trade, resolve on North Korea," 30 June 2017
An analysis of DNA from feather samples of the new Amazona suggests that the bird's origin dates to 119,000 years ago, a relatively recent divergence.

— olivia gibson, CNN, "New parrot species identified in Mexico, study says," 27 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'divergence.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.