differentiation vs gap

differentiation

noun
  • The process of developing distinct components. 

  • The process of separation of cooling magma into various rock types. 

  • The process of applying the derivative operator to a function; of calculating a function's derivative. 

  • The evolutionary process by which one taxonomic group (species, genus, variety, etc.) becomes distinct from another, or acquires distinct features; the result of such a process: distinctness. 

  • The process by which the components of multicellular life (cells, organs, etc.) are produced and acquire function, as when a seed develops the root and stem, and the initial stem develops the leaf, branches, and flower buds. 

  • The act of treating one thing as distinct from another, or of creating such a distinction; of separating a class of things into categories; of describing a thing by illustrating how it is different from something else. 

gap

noun
  • An opening in anything made by breaking or parting. 

  • A vacancy, deficit, absence, or lack. 

  • The shortfall between the amount the medical insurer will pay to the service provider and the scheduled fee for the item. 

  • A hiatus, a pause in something which is otherwise continuous. 

  • An opening allowing passage or entrance. 

  • An opening that implies a breach or defect. 

  • (usually written as "the gap") The disparity between the indigenous and non-indigenous communities with regard to life expectancy, education, health, etc. 

  • An unsequenced region in a sequence alignment. 

  • The regions between the outfielders. 

  • A vacant space or time. 

  • A mountain or hill pass. 

  • A sheltered area of coast between two cliffs (mostly restricted to place names). 

verb
  • To leave suddenly. 

  • To notch, as a sword or knife. 

  • To check the size of a gap. 

  • To make an opening in; to breach. 

How often have the words differentiation and gap occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )