[syn: heterogenous, heterogeneous]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Heterogeneous \Het`er*o*ge"ne*ous\, a. [Gr. ?; ? + ? race, kind;
akin to E. kin: cf. F. h['e]t['e]rog[`e]ne.]
Differing in kind; having unlike qualities; possessed of
different characteristics; dissimilar; -- opposed to
homogeneous, and said of two or more connected objects, or of
a conglomerate mass, considered in respect to the parts of
which it is made up. -- Het`er*o*ge"ne*ous*ly, adv. --
Het`er*o*ge"ne*ous*ness, n.
[1913 Webster]
Heterogeneous nouns (Gram.), nouns having different genders
in the singular and plural numbers; as, hic locus, of the
masculine gender in the singular, and hi loci and h[ae]c
loca, both masculine and neuter in the plural; hoc
c[ae]lum, neuter in the singular; hi c[ae]li, masculine in
the plural.
Heterogeneous quantities (Math.), such quantities as are
incapable of being compared together in respect to
magnitude, and surfaces and solids.
Heterogeneous surds (Math.), surds having different radical
signs.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
heterogeneous
adj 1: consisting of elements that are not of the same kind or
nature; "the population of the United States is vast and
heterogeneous" [syn: heterogeneous, heterogenous]
[ant: homogeneous, homogenous]
2: originating outside the body [syn: heterogenous,
heterogeneous] [ant: autogenic, autogenous]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
92 Moby Thesaurus words for "heterogeneous":
amalgamated, ambiguous, ambivalent, amphibious, assorted, at odds,
at variance, blended, combined, complex, composite, compound,
compounded, conglomerate, contrary, contrasted, contrasting,
dappled, departing, deviating, deviative, different,
differentiated, differing, disaccordant, disagreeing, discordant,
discrepant, discrete, discriminated, disjoined, disparate,
dissimilar, dissonant, distinct, distinguished, divergent,
diverging, divers, diverse, diversified, eclectic, equivocal,
fifty-fifty, half-and-half, in disagreement, inaccordant,
incompatible, incongruous, inconsistent, inconsonant,
indiscriminate, inharmonious, intricate, ironic, irreconcilable,
jumbled, many, many and various, many-sided, medley, mingled,
miscellaneous, mixed, motley, multifaceted, multifarious,
multinational, multiracial, of all sorts, patchy, pluralistic,
poles apart, poles asunder, promiscuous, scrambled, separate,
separated, several, sundry, syncretic, thrown together,
unconformable, unequal, unlike, variant, varied, variegated,
various, varying, widely apart, worlds apart
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
heterogeneous
Composed of unrelated parts, different in kind.
Often used in the context of distributed systems that may be
running different operating systems or network protocols
(a heterogeneous network).
For examples see: interoperable database, middleware.
Constrast homogeneous.
(1999-05-06)