Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To perceive as being different or distinct.
  • intransitive verb To perceive distinctly; discern.
  • intransitive verb To demonstrate or describe as being different or distinct.
  • intransitive verb To be an identifying characteristic of; make noticeable or different.
  • intransitive verb To cause (oneself) to be respected or eminent.
  • intransitive verb To perceive or indicate differences; discriminate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To mark or note in a way to indicate difference; mark as distinct or different; characterize; indicate the difference of.
  • To recognize as different or distinct from what is contiguous or similar; perceive or discover the differences or characteristic marks or qualities of; recognize by some distinctive mark; know or ascertain difference in through the senses or the understanding; perceive or make out.
  • Hence To establish, state, or explain a difference or the differences between two or more things; separate by classification or definition; discriminate; set off or apart.
  • To discern critically; judge.
  • To separate from others by some mark of honor or preference; treat with distinction or honor; make eminent or superior; give distinction to.
  • To make a distinction; find or show a difference: followed by between.
  • To become distinct or distinguishable; become differentiated.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To make distinctions; to perceive the difference; to exercise discrimination; -- with between.
  • intransitive verb rare To become distinguished or distinctive; to make one's self or itself discernible.
  • transitive verb Not set apart from others by visible marks; to make distinctive or discernible by exhibiting differences; to mark off by some characteristic.
  • transitive verb To separate by definition of terms or logical division of a subject with regard to difference.
  • transitive verb To recognize or discern by marks, signs, or characteristic quality or qualities; to know and discriminate (anything) from other things with which it might be confounded.
  • transitive verb To constitute a difference; to make to differ.
  • transitive verb To separate from others by a mark of honor; to make eminent or known; to confer distinction upon; -- with by or for.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To see someone or something as different from others.
  • verb To see someone or something clearly or distinctly.
  • verb To make one's self noticeably different or better from others through accomplishments.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make conspicuous or noteworthy
  • verb mark as different
  • verb detect with the senses
  • verb be a distinctive feature, attribute, or trait; sometimes in a very positive sense
  • verb identify as in botany or biology, for example

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of obsolete distingue, from Middle English distinguen, from Old French distinguer, from Latin distinguere, to separate; see steig- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English distingwen, from Old French distinguer, from Latin distinguere ("to separate, divide, distinguish, set off, adorn, literally mark off"), from di- for dis- ("apart") + *stinguere; see sting, stigma, style. Compare extinguish.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word distinguish.

Examples

  • All the players are on the field gettings penalties and scoring goals but their uniform colors are blurred, even the umpires and field judges are difficult to distinguish from the players from where I sit.

    Safety in Michoacan 2009

  • All the players are on the field gettings penalties and scoring goals but their uniform colors are blurred, even the umpires and field judges are difficult to distinguish from the players from where I sit.

    Safety in Michoacan 2009

  • All the players are on the field gettings penalties and scoring goals but their uniform colors are blurred, even the umpires and field judges are difficult to distinguish from the players from where I sit.

    Safety in Michoacan 2009

  • All the players are on the field gettings penalties and scoring goals but their uniform colors are blurred, even the umpires and field judges are difficult to distinguish from the players from where I sit.

    Safety in Michoacan 2009

  • And another thing we have to distinguish is between liberal habits and pretensions to what some might view as being liberal habits.

    Matthew Yglesias » The Brie Factor 2010

  • All the players are on the field gettings penalties and scoring goals but their uniform colors are blurred, even the umpires and field judges are difficult to distinguish from the players from where I sit.

    Safety in Michoacan 2009

  • It's distressing to see people in pain and trouble, to see families that are homeless and children who are actually starving and adults whose spirits are broken and who can't help them, and it's unnerving to realize that these are Americans not European war refugees whose pictures are also on display and in some cases impossible to distinguish from the Americans in the other photographs.

    History lessons from Larry, Moe, and Curly 2009

  • Now it will be that much harder to expose because the real cry will be impossible to distinguish from the false one, much like the boy who cried, “wolf.”

    Michael Williams (R Cand, SEN-TX) wants to talk about race. - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState 2009

  • All the players are on the field gettings penalties and scoring goals but their uniform colors are blurred, even the umpires and field judges are difficult to distinguish from the players from where I sit.

    Safety in Michoacan 2009

  • All the players are on the field gettings penalties and scoring goals but their uniform colors are blurred, even the umpires and field judges are difficult to distinguish from the players from where I sit.

    Safety in Michoacan 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.