Word Direct Answers

What does "discrete" mean?

Discrete: Disjunctive; containing a disjunctive or discretive clause; as, "I resign my life, but not my honor," is a discrete proposition.

Additional senses

  1. 2.(Bot.) Separate; not coalescent; -- said of things usually coalescent. Discrete movement. See Concrete movement of the voice, under Concrete, a. -- Discrete proportion, proportion where the ratio of the means is different from that of either couplet; as, 3:6::8:16, 3 bearing the same proportion to 6 as 8 does to 16. But 3 is not to 6 as 6 to 8. It is thus opposed to continued or continual proportion; as, 3:6::12:24. -- Discrete quantity, that which must be divided into units, as number, and is opposed to continued quantity, as duration, or extension.
  2. 3.To separate. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

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