diverses

Diverses is the feminine plural form of an adjective found in several Romance languages, used to mean “various” or “different.” It is employed to describe multiple feminine nouns and is most common in French, Italian, and Portuguese texts. The masculine or neutral forms in these languages are divers (French), diversi (Italian/Portuguese), or diverso/diversi, depending on gender and language.

Etymology and meaning trace back to Latin diversus, meaning turned apart or different, from dis- “apart” + vertere “to turn.” Through historical development, the sense broadened in Romance languages to denote a non-specific, varied set of items or ideas.

In French, diverses is the feminine plural form of divers and appears before feminine plural nouns, as in diverses raisons (various reasons) or diverses personnes (various people). In Italian, diverse is the feminine plural, used similarly before feminine nouns, for example persone diverse (diverse people) or questioni diverse (diverse questions). In Portuguese, diversas is the feminine plural of diverso, used in phrases like diversas opções (various options) or diversas perguntas (various questions).

Usage notes: in English, the form diverses is uncommon outside direct borrowing or historical/legal contexts; English typically uses diverse or various. In multilingual or translated texts, diverses often appears when preserving the original Romance language phrasing, or when quoting statutes, literature, or academic writing from those languages.