autodifferentiation

noun

The automatic differentiation of a function by a computer.

Scrabble 26

Meanings

autodifferentiation1

nounautodifferentiation (uncountable)
  1. uncountablecomputingThe automatic differentiation of a function by a computer.

    The backward() function uses PyTorch's automatic differentiation package, torch.autograd, to differentiate and compute gradients of tensors based on the chain rule. Here's a simple example of autodifferentiation.

    2021, Joe Papa, PyTorch Pocket Reference, page 48

    Synonyms: automatic differentiation

  2. uncountablebiologyAutomatic differentiation and specialization of cells; autonomous development.

    Undifferentiated gonia undergo autodifferentiation to oocytes in the absence of any hormone.

    2012, Karl Maramorosch, Invertebrate Tissue Culture: Research Applications, page 67
    3 more examples

    Spermatogenic cells appear to be incapable of autodifferentiation in an anhormonal environment.

    1981, C. R. Austin, Colin Russell Austin, Robert Geoffrey, Mechanisms of Sex Differentiation in Animals and Man, page 66

    The undifferentiated dorsal skin of the tail bud of a 9—10 day duck embryo, cultured on a natural medium containing embryo extract, underwent autodifferentiation to produce, within 8-10 days, the typical glandular invaginations (7).

    2012, J Thomas, Organ Culture, page 89

    Singh et al. (2013) reported that a coating of fibronectin (attachment protein) on SF/CE membrane exhibited enhanced adhesion and autodifferentiation of stem cells.

    2019, Valentina Grumezescu, Alexandru Mihai Grumezescu, Materials for Biomedical Engineering: Biopolymer Fibers, page 360

autodifferentiation2

nounautodifferentiation (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe differentiation of a whole into distinct parts; self-differentiation.
    3 more examples

    This relation and alterity of Jesus before the Father is understood as autodifferentiation, a key word of the German author's Trinitarian theology: 'Self-differentiating himself from the Father, submitting himself as his creature to his will and thus making it the place of his divinity, what is equally required of all of his predications on the Kingdom of God is precisely the manner in which Jesus shows himself as the Son of God, one with the Father who sent Him.'

    2012, Giulio Maspero, Robert J. Wozniak, Rethinking Trinitarian Theology, page 136

    Refusing the model of exclusion, that is, of an expulsion that produces an outside, Derrida holds that an 'original act' of severance, if it is not to imply a metaphysics of presence, can only be an autodifferentiation: 'a self-dividing action' 'interior to logos in general', to 'a logos that preceded the split of reason and madness, a logos which within itself permitted dialogue between what were later called reason and madness'.

    2016, Yubraj Aryal, Between Foucault and Derrida

    Importantly, where intertextual approaches such as that offered by Rolls in this volume (in Chapter 7 below) trace the origins of the muted voice inside the host, or source, text's louder ones to another text, translation hears and renders audible, multiple origins in the one source. This is a particularly interesting form of autodifferentiation, one that is highly compatible with Baudelaire's ever-unsettled Paris.

    2021, Alistair Rolls, Marguerite Johnson, Remembering Paris in Text and Film

Synonyms & antonyms

nounThe automatic differentiation of a function by a computer.

Origin

autodifferentiation · noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ew
  2. Proto-Indo-European*tó-
  3. Proto-Hellenic*autós
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ew
  5. Ancient Greekαὖ (aû)
  6. Ancient Greekτόν (tón)
  7. Ancient Greekαὐτός (autós)
  8. Ancient Greekαὐτο- (auto-)
  9. Proto-Indo-European*men-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*mn̥tós
  11. Proto-Hellenic*mətós
  12. Ancient Greekαὐτόμᾰτος (autómătos)
  13. Ancient Greekαὐτόμᾰτον (autómăton)
  14. Classical Latinautomatum
  15. New Latinautomaticus
  16. Englishautomaticclip.
  17. Englishauto-
  18. Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
  19. Proto-Indo-European*trísinflu.
  20. Proto-Indo-European*d(w)is-
  21. Proto-Italic*dis-
  22. Latindis-
  23. Proto-Indo-European*bʰer-
  24. Proto-Indo-European*bʰéreti
  25. Proto-Italic*ferō
  26. Latinferō
  27. Latindifferō
  28. Latindifferēns
  29. Latindifferentia
  30. New Latindifferentiō
  31. New Latindifferentiātus
  32. Englishdifferentiate
  33. Englishdifferentiation
  34. Englishautodifferentiation

From auto- (“automatic”) + differentiation.

Full word history & related roots →

autodifferentiation · noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ew
  2. Proto-Indo-European*tó-
  3. Proto-Hellenic*autós
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ew
  5. Ancient Greekαὖ (aû)
  6. Ancient Greekτόν (tón)
  7. Ancient Greekαὐτός (autós)
  8. Ancient Greekαὐτο- (auto-)
  9. Englishauto-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
  11. Proto-Indo-European*trísinflu.
  12. Proto-Indo-European*d(w)is-
  13. Proto-Italic*dis-
  14. Latindis-
  15. Proto-Indo-European*bʰer-
  16. Proto-Indo-European*bʰéreti
  17. Proto-Italic*ferō
  18. Latinferō
  19. Latindifferō
  20. Latindifferēns
  21. Latindifferentia
  22. New Latindifferentiō
  23. New Latindifferentiātus
  24. Englishdifferentiate
  25. Englishdifferentiation
  26. Englishautodifferentiation

From auto- (“self-”) + differentiation.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

autodifferentiation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/autodifferentiation

MLA

“autodifferentiation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/autodifferentiation. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “autodifferentiation,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/autodifferentiation.

Source: autodifferentiation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.