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

• 中 西方 的 文化 差 很 多 。Zhōng xīfāng de wénhuà chà hěn duō.Chinese culture and western culture are quite different.
• 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 。Gōngsī jīnnián de shōurù gēn qùnián chà hěn duō.The company's income for this year is a lot less than last year.
• 这个 服务员 和 经理 的 服务 态度 差 很 多 。Zhège fúwùyuán hé jīnglǐ de fúwù tàidu chà hěn duō.There is a big difference in the attitude between this waiter and his manager.
• 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'.
• 两 个 老师 都 很 好 ，不过 他们 的 学历 差 很 多 。Liǎng gè lǎoshī dōu hěn hǎo, bùguò tāmen de xuélì chà hěn duō.They are both great teachers, but their education are very different.
• 老 版本 跟 新 版本 的 功能 差 很 多 。Lǎo bǎnběn gēn 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 their personalities are very different.

See also

• Approximations with "chabuduo"
• Expressing "almost" using "chadian mei"
• Expressing "almost" using "chadian"

Sources and further reading

Books

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

Dictionaries

• 现代汉语词典（第5版） (pp. 145) 卓越汉语－公司实战篇 →buy

HSK4