What is the difference between a patent and a patent application?

It should be noted that in daily life, people usually confuse the two concepts of "patent" and "patent application". For example, some people claim that they have a patent before their patent application is authorized. In fact, a patent application can only be called a patent application before it is authorized. If it is finally authorized, it can be called a patent and enjoy the exclusive right to use the technical scope it requests to protect. If it is not authorized by a patent, it will never have a chance to become a patent. That is to say, although he submitted a patent application, he did not obtain the exclusive right to use the technical scope he requested to protect. Obviously, the gap between the two results represented by these two concepts is huge.