adjective · academic
discrete
/dɪˈskriːt/dis·CREET
Band 6-7speakingtask1task2
separate and distinct; not continuous or connected
Examples
“The study analysed discrete categories of employment rather than a single continuous scale.”
“In computing, discrete data are counted in whole numbers.”
“We measured changes at discrete time intervals.”
Band 8 sentence
“When modelling population dynamics it's important to choose whether variables are treated as discrete counts or as continuous measures, because the methods differ substantially.”
Collocations
- discrete unit / discrete category / discrete variable
- clearly discrete
Word family
discrete adjectivediscretely adverbdiscreteness noun
Common mistakes
discreet→discrete
distinct / separate→discrete
Say it for a higher band
5separate→6distinct→7+discrete
Synonyms
distinct
separate
Easily confused
discreet
“She was discreet about the confidential data she had seen.”
Related words
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In Sublist 8
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