discrete

Etymology 1

From Old French discret, from Latin discrētus, past participle of discernō (“divide”), from dis- + cernō (“sift”). Doublet of discreet.

adj

1. Separate; distinct; individual; non-continuous.
   a government with three discrete divisions
   There are two laws discrete, / Not reconciled,— / Law for man, and law for thing; / The last builds town and fleet, / But it runs wild, / And doth the man unking. a. 1856, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Ode, Inscribed to W. H. Channing”, in Poems, 5th edition, Boston: Pillips, Sampson & Co., published 1856, page 120
   But analysis, penetrating beneath the fact of Sense in search of its ideal factors, declares that this mass of marble is something very different from what it appears : its seeming continuity is broken up into discrete molecules, separated from each other as the stars in the Milky Way are separated ; and its seeming homogeneity is resolved into heterogeneous substances, which are themselves in all probability composite. 1875, George Henry Lewes, “The Problem Stated”, in Problems of Life and Mind, volume II, London: Trübner & Co., page 33
   It's not that there aren't measurable, quantifiable differences between all these categories we impose upon things, it's just that for the most part they fit not into discrete units, but into a continuum. 2017, Adam Rutherford, A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, The Experiment, pages 254–255
2. That can be perceived individually, not as connected to, or part of, something else.
3. (mathematics) Consisting of or permitting only distinct values drawn from a finite, countable set.
   a discrete sum
4. (electrical engineering) Having separate electronic components, such as individual diodes, transistors and resistors, as opposed to integrated circuitry.
5. (audio engineering) Having separate and independent channels of audio, as opposed to multiplexed stereo or quadraphonic, or other multi-channel sound.
6. (topology) Having each singleton subset open: said of a topological space or a topology.
7. Disjunctive; containing a disjunctive or discretive clause.
   "I resign my life, but not my honour" is a discrete proposition.

Etymology 2

adj

1. Obsolete form of discreet.