diˈvergency
[f. as prec.: see -ency.]
1. The quality or state of being divergent; the amount or degree of divergence.
| 1709 Berkeley Th. Vision §6 The apparent distance still increasing, as the divergency of the rays decreases. c 1790 J. Imison Sch. Art I. 86, I..present it to the balls in their diverging state..if it increase their divergency..it shews their electricity to be..negative. 1831 Brewster Optics i. §16. 7 The rays will have the same divergency after reflexion as they had before it. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1860 Westcott Introd. Study Gosp. vii. (ed. 5) 350 General agreement will be diversified by characteristic divergencies. 1879 Proctor Pleas. Ways Sc. xiii. 327 That divergency which..characterizes the relationship between man and the anthropoid ape. |
2. Math. Divergent character or quality (of a series).
| 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 486/1 Of series of positive terms which diminish without limit, a test of convergency or divergency may frequently be given as follows. 1887 Hall & Knight Higher Algebra §279. 230 Rules by which we can test the convergency or divergency of a given series without effecting its summation. |
3. = divergence 1.
| 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Virtual Focus, Also called point of dispersion, or divergency. 1833 Chalmers Const. Man (1835) I. iii. 156 The point of departure or divergency. |