Wordings help please?

Question

Hi,Could you please teach me how to differentiate these three words? They all mean same to me though.We both have [ various / diverse / different ] interests.Everyone late for [ various / diverse  / different ] reasons.They come in [ various / diverse / different ] sizes.There are [ various / diverse / different ] way of doing it.CheerJohn Aki

John Aki · Accepted Answer

There are [ various / diverse / different ] ways of doing it.

I guess the differences between these three words are subtle....

Thanks in advance anyway

John Aki

Anonymous · Answer

John AkiWe both have [ various / diverse / different ] interests.

I suspect that you meant "We have X interests." When you add "both" it means that each of you has such interests independently, and I would expect you to mean that you two do not have the same interests.

"We both have various interests." means that each of you has three or more undefined interests, and it says nothing about whether you have any in common or not.

"We both have diverse interests." means that each of you has three or more interests that are remarkably dissimilar, and it says nothing about whether you have any in common or not.

"We both have different interests." is not good English, but in semi-literate casual speech you will hear that to mean "We have different interests." meaning that you two have no interests in common.

"We have various interests." means that you two have three or more interests that you pursue jointly.

"We have diverse interests." is unclear. It seems to mean that you two have dissimilar interests independently, but the choice of words is so odd the listener has to suspect that you mean that that you two share a set of dissimilar interests.

"We have different interests." means that you two have no interests in common.

I am going to stop here. I think you now have some idea of the difference in usage among the words. I would add that you should be more careful with your typing if you want others to be. "Everyone late for …" has a mistake in it. Do you see it?

CalifJim · Answer

John Aki
Hi,
Could you please teach me how to differentiate these three words? They all mean same to me though.

We ~~both~~ have [ various / diverse / different ] interests.
various interests: quite a few different interests
diverse interests: very different kinds of interests
different interests: interests that are not the same
Everyone was late for [ various / diverse / different ] reasons.
Everyone was late for a different reason. ~ Each person had a different reason for being late.
For various reasons, everyone was late. ~ Everyone was late, and there were quite a few different reasons why that happened.
They come in [ various / ~~diverse~~ / different ] sizes.
There are [ various / ~~diverse~~ / different ] ways of doing it.
'various' tends to include the idea of 'not just a small number', 'quite a few' in addition to the idea of 'different'.
I'd say that 'diverse' is the least used of these three in the contexts you used above.

Cheers
John Aki

From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

different, diverse, divergent, disparate, various mean unlike in kind or character.

different may imply little more than separateness but it may also imply contrast or contrariness. different foods

diverse implies both distinctness and marked contrast. such diverse interests as dancing and football

divergent implies movement away from each other and unlikelihood of ultimate meeting or reconciliation. went on to pursue divergent careers

disparate emphasizes incongruity or incompatibility. disparate notions of freedom

various stresses the number of sorts or kinds. tried various methods

CJ

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