Discrepancy
The receipt says one amount and the bank statement shows another. Before deciding who made a mistake, you need a word for the mismatch itself.
Learn This WordMeaning
A difference or inconsistency between things that are expected to agree or match.
Memory trick
Imagine two receipts for the same purchase showing different totals. That mismatch is a discrepancy: figures that should agree do not.
Examples
An audit revealed a discrepancy between the invoices and the bank records.
The researcher checked whether different sample sizes could explain the discrepancy in the findings.
There was a small discrepancy between the advertised price and the amount on the receipt.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Latin discrepantia "disagreement," from discrepare "to sound different, disagree," formed from dis- "apart" + crepare "to rattle, make a noise."
Usage Notes
Common patterns are "a discrepancy between A and B" and "a discrepancy in the figures." In GMAT reasoning, explaining a discrepancy means finding information that reconciles apparently conflicting facts.
Real-life contexts
Raise a concern: "I noticed a discrepancy in the final total."
Compare accounts: "How do we explain the discrepancy between these reports?"
Ask for a check: "Could you help me resolve this discrepancy?"
Common Mistakes
A discrepancy suggests a mismatch that needs explanation, not simply any difference between unrelated things. It does not by itself prove fraud or identify which source is wrong. The plural is discrepancies.
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Start LearningQuick Facts
Part of Speech
noun
Difficulty
intermediate