Gift vs. Token — What's the Difference?

Something given to another voluntarily, without charge.

Something serving as an indication, proof, or expression of something else; a sign

A gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectation of payment or anything in return. An item is not a gift if that item is already owned by the one to whom it is given.

Something that signifies or evidences authority, validity, or identity

Something that is bestowed voluntarily and without compensation

A specific instance of a phenomenon or a class of things, as of a linguistic feature in a sample of a person's speech, that can be isolated for study or analysis.

The act of giving

A person who is considered as representative of a social group, such as a lone individual or one of a small number of employees hired primarily to prevent an employer from being accused of discrimination.

A talent, endowment, aptitude, or inclination

A keepsake or souvenir.

To present something as a gift to

A piece of stamped metal used as a substitute for currency

To give as a gift

A small electronic device issued to a user to serve as proof of identity, as for the purpose of accessing a network.

To endow with

A piece of software that serves as proof of the user's identity.

A talent or natural ability.

To betoken or symbolize; portend.

Something gained incidentally, without effort.

Done as an indication or pledge

The act, right, or power of giving or bestowing.

Perfunctory; minimal

(transitive) To give as a gift or donation.

Being a product of tokenism; merely symbolic

(transitive) To give away, to concede easily.

Something serving as an expression of something else.

Anything given; anything voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation; a present; an offering.

A keepsake.

The act, right, or power of giving or bestowing; as, the office is in the gift of the President.

A piece of stamped metal or plastic, etc., used as a substitute for money; a voucher that can be exchanged for goods or services.

A bribe; anything given to corrupt.

A small physical object, often designed to give the appearance of a common thing, used to represent a person or character in a board game or other situation.

Some exceptional inborn quality or characteristic; a striking or special talent or aptitude; power; faculty; as, the gift of wit; a gift for speaking.

A minor attempt for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement.

A voluntary transfer of real or personal property, without any consideration. It can be perfected only by deed, or in case of personal property, by an actual delivery of possession.

A member of a group of people that is included within a larger group to comply with a legal or social requirement.

To endow with some power or faculty. See gift{4}.

Evidence, proof; a confirming detail; physical trace, mark, footprint.

Something acquired without compensation

Support for a belief; grounds for an opinion.

Natural qualities or talents

An extraordinary event serving as evidence of supernatural power.

The act of giving

An object or disclosure to attest or authenticate the bearer or an instruction.

Give qualities or abilities to

A seal guaranteeing the quality of an item.

Give as a present; make a gift of;

Something given or shown as a symbol or guarantee of authority or right; a sign of authenticity, of power, good faith.

A tally.

(philosophy) A particular thing to which a concept applies.

(computing) An atomic piece of data, such as a word, for which a meaning may be inferred during parsing.

(computing) A conceptual object that can be possessed by a computer, process, etc. in order to regulate a turn-taking system such as a token ring network.

(computing) A meaningless placeholder used as a substitute for sensitive data.

(grammar) A lexeme; a basic, grammatically indivisible unit of a language such as a keyword, operator or identifier.

(corpus linguistics) A single example of a certain word in a text or corpus.

(medical) A characteristic sign of a disease or of a bodily disorder, a symptom; a sign of a bodily condition, recovery, or health.

A livid spot upon the body, indicating, or supposed to indicate, the approach of death.

(printing) Ten and a half quires, or, commonly, 250 sheets, of paper printed on both sides; also, in some cases, the same number of sheets printed on one side, or half the number printed on both sides.

(mining) A bit of leather having a peculiar mark designating a particular miner. Each hewer sent one of these with each corf or tub he had hewn.

(mining) A thin bed of coal indicating the existence of a thicker seam at no great distance.

(rail transport) A physical object used for exchange between drivers and signalmen on single track lines.

(weaving) In a loom, a colored signal to show the weaver which shuttle to use.

(Church of Scotland) A piece of metal given beforehand to each person in the congregation who is permitted to partake of the Lord's Supper.

Done as an indication or a pledge.

Perfunctory or merely symbolic; done or existing for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement.

(of people) Included in minimal numbers in order to create an impression or illusion of diversity, especially ethnic or gender diversity.

To betoken, indicate, portend, designate, denote

To betroth

(philosophy) To symbolize, instantiate

Something intended or supposed to represent or indicate another thing or an event; a sign; a symbol; as, the rainbow is a token of God's covenant established with Noah.

A memorial of friendship; something by which the friendship of another person is to be kept in mind; a memento; a souvenir.

Something given or shown as a symbol or guarantee of authority or right; a sign of authenticity, of power, good faith, etc.

A piece of metal intended for currency, and issued by a private party, usually bearing the name of the issuer, and redeemable in lawful money. Also, a coin issued by government, esp. when its use as lawful money is limited and its intrinsic value is much below its nominal value.

A livid spot upon the body, indicating, or supposed to indicate, the approach of death.

Ten and a half quires, or, commonly, 250 sheets, of paper printed on both sides; also, in some cases, the same number of sheets printed on one side, or half the number printed on both sides.

A piece of metal given beforehand to each person in the congregation who is permitted to partake of the Lord's Supper.

A bit of leather having a peculiar mark designating a particular miner. Each hewer sends one of these with each corf or tub he has hewn.

In a Jacquard loom, a colored signal to show the weaver which shuttle to use.

To betoken.

An individual instance of a type of symbol;

A metal or plastic disk that can be used (as a substitute for coins) in slot machines

Something of sentimental value

Insignificantly small; a matter of form only (`tokenish' is informal);