BharatNotes Heterogeneous
adjectiveUsage in a UPSC answer
India's heterogeneous social fabric — encompassing over 700 Scheduled Tribes, 1,600+ dialects, and six major world religions — makes uniform policy prescriptions structurally unsuitable, necessitating asymmetric federalism.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
heterogeneity (noun), heterogeneously (adverb), heterogenize (verb), heterogenousness (noun)
Root
Greek heteros = other, different + genos = kind, race, type; literally 'of a different kind'
Etymology
From Medieval Latin heterogeneus, itself from Greek heterogenēs — heteros (other, different) and genos (kind, race, origin). First used in English in scientific contexts in the mid-17th century to describe mixtures of unlike substances. Its sociological application to describe societies composed of diverse groups became standard in 19th–20th-century sociology and political science.
Memory Hook
HETERO = different (think heterosexual = attracted to a different gender). GENEOUS = kind/type. HETEROGENEOUS = made of DIFFERENT TYPES. Its opposite, HOMO-geneous, = HOMO (same) + geneous = all the same type. Milk is homogenised; India is heterogeneous.
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