What is the difference between wordpress plugin and widget?

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Can anyone help me to get this answer with a small example as I have been trying to be cleared about this two things.

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  1. According to, and elaborating on the WordPress Codex:

    Plugins

    Plugins are ways to extend and add to the functionality that already exists in WordPress. The core of WordPress is designed to be lean and lightweight, to maximize flexibility and minimize code bloat. Plugins then offer custom functions and features so that each user can tailor their site to their specific needs.

    So this should be thought of as a way of extending WP’s underlying / core functionality. Remember, WP’s Roots is that of a blogging CMS, but developers over the years have been hell bent on making it do anything and everything treating WP kind of like a framework, but not to be confused with one. For example, WordPress does not have a contact form built in for users, therefore I can plug in a 3rd party module which will permit the administrator to set up and use such functionality.

    Widgets

    WordPress Widgets add content and features to your Sidebars. Examples are the default widgets that come with WordPress; for post categories, tag clouds, navigation, search, etc. Plugins will often add their own widgets.

    This is not as straight forward due to the concept being quite abstract. Think of a widget of extending the template dynamically by allowing a webmaster to deploy 3rd party plugins (as well as default plugins). Developers tend to use such functionality to display information that is not mission critical, non intrusive and easy to use / manipulate.

    However, to clarify, you don’t necessarily require widgets to use plugins. In the case you use Akismet, it will simply extend WP to prevent against spam without ever displaying anything to the user.