diversity

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

diversity (daɪˈvɜːsɪtɪ)

—n
1.	the state or quality of being different or varied
2.	a point of difference
3.	logic the relation that holds between two entities when and only when they are not identical; the property of being numerically distinct

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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

diversity

mid-14c., "quality of being diverse," mostly in a neutral sense, from O.Fr. diversité (12c.) "difference, diversity, unique feature, oddness:" also "wickedness, perversity," from L. diversitatem "contrariety, contradiction, disagreement;" also, as a secondary sense, "difference, diversity" from

diversus "turned different ways," in L.L. "various," pp. of divertere (see divert). Negative meaning, "being contrary to what is agreeable or right; perversity, evil" existed in English from late 15c. but was obsolete from 17c. Diversity as a virtue in a nation is an idea from the rise of modern democracies in the 1790s, where it kept one faction from arrogating all power (but this was not quite the modern sense, as ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, etc. was not the matter in mind):

"The dissimilarity in the ingredients which will compose the national government, and still more in the manner in which they will be brought into action in its various branches, must form a powerful obstacle to a concert of views in any partial scheme of elections. There is sufficient diversity in the state of property, in the genius, manners, and habits of the people of the different parts of the Union, to occasion a material diversity of disposition in their representatives towards the different ranks and conditions in society." ["Federalist" #60, Feb. 26, 1788 (Hamilton)]

Specific focus (in a positive sense) on race, gender, etc. is from 1992.

Example sentences

For difference of character leads to difference of aims, and the result of such

diversity is to estrange friends.

Fossils tell a new story about the diversity of hominid diets.

From the longest insect to the smallest snake, a fascinating diversity of

organisms has remained unknown until the past year.

Such a diversity of styles and practices, including the essential element of

dance.

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Matching Quote

"We call the intention good which is right in itself, but the action is good, not because it contains within it some good, but because it issues from a good intention. The same act may be done by the same man at different times. According to the diversity of his intention, however, this act may be at one time good, at another bad."

-Peter Abelard