diverge

verb

1. (intransitive, literally)To run apart; to separate; to tend into different directions.

   “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both / […]”

2. (figuratively, intransitive)To become different; to run apart; to separate; to tend into different directions.

   “Both stories start out the same way, but they diverge halfway through.”

   “The brooding, black-clad singer bridged a stark divide that emerged in the recording industry in the 1950s, as post-Elvis pop singers diverged into two camps and audiences aligned themselves with either the sideburned rebels of rock 'n' roll or the cowboy-hatted twangsters of country music.”

   ““Earth Two,” a new series by writer James Robinson and artist Nicola Scott, reintroduces the concept by putting a new spin on the original versions of characters like the Green Lantern, the Flash and Superman that diverges notably from the past several decades of DC lore.”

3. (intransitive, literally)To separate, to tend into a different direction (from another line or path).

   “The sidewalk runs next to the street for a few miles, then diverges from it and turns north.”

   “The last 61 miles of the journey, from Kongsberg to Oslo, are through much less mountainous country. The railway curves sharply away from the Lågan^([sic]), and descends steadily, and in places steeply, past the head of Lake Fiskerumvatn to Hokksund, where the connecting line to the Bergen-Oslo Railway at Hønefoss diverges.”

   “Aedeagus in lateral view with preatrium well developed, almost as long as shaft, shaft slender, tubular, straight, diverging from line of preatrium about 30°, with membranous flanges on dorsal side variable in shape, dorsoatrium absent but with pair of ligaments connecting to anal tube laterally, in ventral view aedeagus shaft and preatrium nearly broadened at atrium, gonopore apical (Figs 4C, 4F–4I, 5A and 5G–5I ).”

   “North of Tain [...], the line reaches the southern shore of Dornoch Firth. Here, the railway and the A9 trunk road, which have hitherto run close together, diverge.”

4. (figuratively, intransitive)To become different, to separate (from another line or path).

   “The software is pretty good, except for a few cases where its behavior diverges from user expectations.”

5. (intransitive)Not to converge: to have no limit, or no finite limit.

   “The sequence x#95;n#61;n² diverges to infinity: that is, it increases without bound.”

   “The sequence a#95;n#61;(-1)ⁿ diverges; it keeps oscillating between -1 and 1.”

noun

1. A point where a lane branches off from the main flow.