The opposite of "chabuduo" is "cha hen duo"

You might be used to thinking of 差不多 (chàbùduō) as a single word, and that's totally OK. But if you want to negate the whole idea of rough equivalency, then you need to think of it as a phrase and use 差很多 (chà hěn duō). Not surprisingly, it's a little less versatile than 差不多 (chàbùduō).

Structure

When 差不多 (chàbùduō) is a predicate, it literally means "the difference is not much." The opposite, then, would be 差很多 (chà hěn duō), which literally means "the difference is very great." Less literally, if 差不多 (chàbùduō) means "more or less the same," then 差很多 (chà hěn duō) means "not the same at all" or "very different."

Subj. + 差很多

A + 跟 / 和 + B + 差很多

Examples

• 这 两 个 词 的 意思 差不多，但是 用法 差 很 多 。Zhè liǎng gè cí de yìsi chàbùduō, dànshì yòngfǎ chà hěn duō.The meanings of these two words are basically the same, but their usages are very different.
• 她 和 她 老公 的 年龄 差 很 多 。Tā hé tā lǎogōng de niánlíng chà hěn duō.There is a big difference between her age and her husband's age.
• 公司 今年 的 收入 跟 去年 差 很 多 。The company's income of this year is a lot less than last year.
• 我 的 生活 习惯 跟 我 父母 差 很 多 。Wǒ de shēnghuó xíguàn gēn wǒ fùmǔ chà hěn duō.My life habits are very different from my parents'.
• 这个 服务员 和 经理 的 服务 态度 差 很 多 。There is a big difference in the attitude between this waiter and his manager.
• 老 版本 和 新版本 的 功能 差 很 多 。Lǎo bǎnběn hé xīn bǎnběn de gōngnéng chà hěn duō.There are huge differences in the features between the old version and the new one.
• 这 两 件 衣服 看起来 差不多 ，但是 质量 差 很 多 。Zhè liǎng jiàn yīfu kànqǐlái chàbuduō, dànshì zhìliàng chà hěn duō.These two pieces of clothing look pretty much the same, but their quality is very different.
• 他们 是 双胞胎 ，但是 两 个 人 的 性格 差 很 多 。Tāmen shì shuāngbāotāi, dànshì liǎng gè rén de xìnggé chà hěn duō.They are twins, but there is a big difference in personality between them.
• 中国 文化 和 西方 文化 差 很 多 。Zhōngguó wénhuà hé xīfāngwénhuà chà hěn duō.Chinese culture and western culture are quite different.
• 两个 老师 都 很 好 ，不过 教学 风格 差 很 多 。Liǎng gè lǎoshī dōu hěn hǎo, bùguò jiàoxué fēnggé chà hěn duō.They are both great teachers, but their teaching styles are very different.

See also

• Expressing "almost" using "chadian mei"
• Expressing "almost" using "chadian"
• "Nearly" with "jihu"

Sources and further reading

Books

• 现代汉语八百词（增订本） (p. 111) →buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 1 (pp. 54-5) →buy
• Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar (p. 116) →buy

Dictionaries

• 现代汉语词典（第5版） (p. 145) →buy

HSK4