discrete
adjUK /dɪˈskɹiːt/ · CA, US /dɪˈskɹit/
Etymology From Old French discret, from Latin discrētus, past participle of discernō (“divide”), from dis- + cernō (“sift”). Doublet of discreet.
7 senses
- 1Separate; distinct; individual; non-continuous.
- 2That can be perceived individually, not as connected to…
- 3Consisting of or permitting only distinct values drawn…
- 4Having separate electronic components, such as…
- 5Having separate and independent channels of audio, as…
- 6Having each singleton subset open: said of a topological…
- 7Disjunctive; containing a disjunctive or discretive clause.
Separate; distinct; individual; non-continuous.
- a government with three discrete divisions
- There are two laws discrete, / Not reconciled,— / Law for man, and law for thing; / The last builds town and fleet, / But it runs wild, / And doth the man unking.a. 1856, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Ode, Inscribed to W. H. Channing”, in Poems, 5th edition, Boston: Pillips, Sampson & Co., published 1856, page 120:
2 more examples
- But analysis, penetrating beneath the fact of Sense in search of its ideal factors, declares that this mass of marble is something very different from what it appears : its seeming continuity is broken up into discrete molecules, separated from each other as the stars in the Milky Way are separated ; and its seeming homogeneity is resolved into heterogeneous substances, which are themselves in all probability composite.1875, George Henry Lewes, “The Problem Stated”, in Problems of Life and Mind, volume II, London: Trübner & Co., page 33:
- It's not that there aren't measurable, quantifiable differences between all these categories we impose upon things, it's just that for the most part they fit not into discrete units, but into a continuum.2017, Adam Rutherford, A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, The Experiment, →ISBN, pages 254–255:
That can be perceived individually, not as connected to, or part of, something else.
Mathematics, Sciences Consisting of or permitting only distinct values drawn from a finite, countable set.
- a discrete sum
Business, Electrical, Electrical engineering, Electricity, Electromagnetism, Energy, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics Having separate electronic components, such as individual diodes, transistors and resistors, as opposed to integrated circuitry.
Audio, Electrical engineering, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences Having separate and independent channels of audio, as opposed to multiplexed stereo or quadraphonic, or other multi-channel sound.
Mathematics, Sciences, Topology Having each singleton subset open: said of a topological space or a topology.
Disjunctive; containing a disjunctive or discretive clause.
- "I resign my life, but not my honour" is a discrete proposition.
- Antonyms
- continuous, integrated, multiplexed
- Derived terms
33 terms
bidiscrete, discrete binning, discrete category, discrete choice analysis, discrete component, discrete Fourier transform, discretely, discrete manufacturing, discrete math, discrete mathematics, discrete metric, discreteness, discrete picking, discrete random variable, discrete set, discrete time, discrete-time, discrete-time Markov chain, discrete-time signal, discrete topology, discrete valuation, discrete valuation ring, discrete variable, discrete wavelet transform, discretisation, discretize, nondiscrete, non-discrete, prodiscrete, pseudodiscrete, quasidiscrete, semidiscrete, ultradiscrete