Distinguish

Definition: Distinguish

Distinguish

Verb

1. Mark as different; "We distinguish several kinds of maple".

2. Detect with the senses; "The fleeing convicts were picked out of the darkness by the watchful prison guards"; "I can't make out the faces in this photograph".

3. Be a distinctive feature, attribute, or trait; sometimes in a very positive sense; "His modesty distinguishes him form his peers".

4. Make conspicuous.

5. As in in botany or biology, for example.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "distinguish" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Synonyms: Distinguish

Discrimination

Verb: discriminate, distinguish, severalize; recognize, match, identify; separate; draw the line, sift; separate the chaff from the wheat, winnow the chaff from the wheat; separate the men from the boys; split hairs, draw a fine line, nitpick, quibble.

Nomenclature

Verb: name, call, term, denominate designate, style, entitle, clepe, dub, christen, baptize, characterize, specify, define, distinguish by the name of; label; (mark).

Crosswords: Distinguish

It is the only way I will ever distinguish myself. (A Beautiful Mind; writing credit: Akiva Goldsman)

One cannot distinguish the thought from the words that express it. (Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux; writing credit: Marcel Sacotte; Jean-Luc Godard)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• A Kingdom Not of This World: Stuart Robinson's Struggle to Distinguish the Sacred from the Secular During the Civil War (reference)

• Concepts That Distinguish Judaism: God, Torah, Israel (The B'Nai B'Rith History of the Jewish People) (reference)

• Distinguish Homeplans/No 22 (reference)

• Emyl Jenkin's Guide to Buying and Collecting Early American Furniture/How to Distinguish Period Pieces from Fakes and Reproductions (reference)

• Good Spirits, Bad Spirits How to Distinguish Between Them (reference)

  (more book examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

This lesion has a dark brown, "pebbly" elevated surface against a lighter tan, macular background. The irregular, indistinct margin of the nevus helps to distinguish it from the small congenital-pattern nevus, which some dysplastic nevi closely resemble clinically. Its distinctive morphology, not its size (6 by 6 mm), identifies it as a dysplastic nevus. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.

Photograph taken during World War II, showing the Medal of Honor designed by Tiffany & Company that was awarded for First World War Service and discontinued in 1942. The medal was authorized by Congress on 4 February 1919 for presentation in the name of Congress by the President to Naval personnel who shall "in action involving actual conflict with the enemy, distinguish himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty" and without detriment to his mission. Credit: NAVY.

Training high school boys to identify planes. Instructor George Bowne of Weequahic High School, Newark, New Jersey, makes silhouette slides for his ceiling projections machine, by which his students learn to distinguish between planes of the United Nation. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

He that will with any clearness speak of the dissolution of government, ought in the first place to distinguish between the dissolution of the society and the dissolution of the government. (Second Treatise of Government)

Constant revolutionising of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones. (reference)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

One of the major difficulties Trillian experienced in her relationship with Zaphod was learning to distinguish between him pretending to be stupid just to get people off their guard, pretending to be stupid because he couldn't be bothered to think and wanted someone else to do it for him, pretending to be outrageously stupid to hide the fact that he actually didn't understand what was going on, and really being genuinely stupid.

It would have been hard to distinguish in the darkness for what use this piece of iron had been made.

To distinguish between moral beauty and material beauty.

I knew and could distinguish those two heroes at first sight, not only from the crowd but from each other.

It certainly is fair to look at that class by whose labor the works which distinguish this generation are accomplished.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

Another problem is that they do not distinguish between excess fat and muscle. (references)

The White-footed Mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) is hard to distinguish from the deer mouse. (references)

For instance, pneumograms may be used to distinguish false from true apnea monitor alarms. (references)

Business

However, it is difficult to distinguish between travelers going to the U.S. through Europe. (references)

Civil Liberties

France

Although the Government instructed the MILS to analyze "the phenomenon of cults," its decree did not define the term cult or distinguish cults from religions. (references)

Portugal

Immigration authorities attempt to distinguish among political, humanitarian, and temporary refugees, but the Government continued to maintain that the majority of asylum seekers are economic refugees using the country as a gateway to the other European Union countries. (references)

Russia

They also expressed concern that the meeting might signal a government attempt to exercise greater control over NGO's or to distinguish between those playing a "constructive" role (such as charitable groups) and those deemed "too political" (such as human rights and environmental groups). (references)

Discrimination

Jordan

The law does not distinguish between citizens on the basis of race; however, women and minorities are treated differently under the law and face discrimination in employment, housing, and other areas. (references)

Economic History

China

The Securities Law does not distinguish between state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-SOEs. (references)

Uae

UAE law does not distinguish between an agent and distributor, referring to both as commercial agents. (references)

Human Rights

Sri Lanka

Medical sources distinguish between "undernourished" children (of which there are many throughout the country) and "malnourished" children. (references)

Italy

The February measures distinguish between testimony offered by innocent witnesses and by pentiti, and accord greater benefits for testimony by the former. (references)

Tunisia

The Government appears to distinguish Islamists from other political opposition prisoners; prisoners whom the Government has identified as Islamists tend to receive harsher treatment during their arrests and confinement. (references)

Minorities

Germany

The 2000 report of the Federal OPC does not distinguish violent crimes by the religious affiliation of the victims. (references)

Nigeria

Consequently it often is difficult to distinguish religious discrimination and tension from ethnic, regional, economic, and land use competition. (references)

Estonia

Other than for land ownership, the law does not distinguish between citizens and noncitizens for purposes of business or property ownership, and land ownership by foreigners is restricted only in certain strategic areas. (references)

Political Economy

Micronesia

Traditional customs distinguish among persons on the basis of social status and sex. (references)

HAITI

Haiti has one nascent export processing zone, and the labor code does not distinguish between industries producing for the local market and those producing for export. (references)

Travel

Vietnam

To distinguish individuals, Vietnamese address each other by their given names. (references)

Women

Macau

However, police and court statistics do not distinguish between spousal abuse and other assault cases. (references)

Russia

Yelena Yershova of the Consortium of Women's NGO Associations has pointed out that law enforcement authorities distinguish between crimes committed outside the home and "acts of violence" committed at home. (references)

Australia

There were 14,074 victims of sexual assault recorded by the police in 1999 (the latest figures publicly available; they do not distinguish by gender), a decrease of 1.8 percent from 1998. This amounts to approximately 74 victims of sexual assault per 100,000 persons. (references)

Worker Rights

Haiti

The Labor Code does not distinguish between industries producing for the local market and those producing for export. (references)

Poland

Since statistics on prostitution do not distinguish victims of trafficking from those willfully engaged in prostitution, escort services, pornography and other aspects of the sex trade, the scope of the trafficking problem is difficult to define. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "distinguish": distinguish between ♦ distinguish by the name of ♦ distinguish oneself ♦ to distinguish "self". Additional references.

Albanian

dalloj (descry, differ, differentiate, discern, discriminate, espy, individualize, know, perceive, pick out, show smb. up, sight, single out, tab, tell them apart, trace), veçoj (abstract, disentangle, disjoin, disjoint, dispart, dissever, dissociate, disunite, divide, divorce, individualize, insulate, isolate, keep separate, partition, pick out, seclude, segregate, separate), shquaj (descry, discern, espy, individualize, know, sight, signalize), përbëj ndryshimin, ndaj (allot, apportion, at, bar, by, come between, cut, detach, disarticulate, disembody, disjoin, disjoint, dismember, dispart, dissever, dissociate, distribute, disunite, divide, divorce, divvy, fissure, fractionate, grade, hand out, joint, on, part, partition, reconcile, rope off, section, segregate, separate, sever, share, sort out, space, split, sunder, toward, towards, unjoint, unlink, unscramble, unto, winnow), klasifikoj (assort, categorize, classify, digest, distribute, grade, group, label, range, rank, rate, separate, sort, sort out, type), bëj i njohur (blaze, divulge), bëj i famshëm. (various references)

Arabic 

‏ميز (characterize, confer distinction upon, differentiate, discern, discriminate, favor, favour, grant a special privilege, honor, identify, know, label, make a distinction, mark, notice, observe, perceive, prefer, privilege, realize, recognize, segregate, separate, set above others, set apart, set aside, single, single out, stamp), ‏لحظ الفرق, ‏صنف (article, assort, brand, categorize, category, class, classification, classify, compile, designate, digest, distribute, grade, group, kind, label, pigeonhole, place, rank, rate, sort, species, stow, systematize, table, tabulate, type), ‏إكتسب شهرة, ‏أبلى بلاء حسن, ‏بوب (classify, distribute). (various references)

Bulgarian 

различавам (appreciate, contradistinguish, differentiate, discern, discriminate, tell apart), разпознавам (discern, know, pick out, recognize, spot, tell, tell apart), отличавам (characterize, differentiate, feature), изтъквам (accent, accentuate, adduce, bring out, emphasize, feature, highlight, notice, pinpoint, play up, point out, represent, show off, show up, signalize, single out, throw up, urge). (various references)

Chinese 

辨別 (differentiate, discriminate), 辨 (recognize), 区别 (Difference, Distinguishing), 區 (area, district, region, small), 別 (another, awkward, classify, contrary, depart, difficult, do not, leave, must not, other, separate, to pin). (various references)

Czech

vyznamenat (decorate), vyznaèovat, uvidìt (catch sight, come to see, see), rozpoznat (recognize, tell), rozlišovat (discriminate), rozlišit (differentiate), rozeznávat, odlišit (differentiate). (various references)

Danish

det er ved omdannelserved mellemtemperaturer ofte vanskeligt at bestemme, hvilke faser der dannes foerst (amongst the different constituents resulting from the transformation, it is often difficult to distinguish, the products which are formed first), den sædvanlige metode til bestemmelse af blyindholdet i prøver af partikulære forureninger skelner ikke mellem organiske og uorganiske blyforbindelser (the current method for assaying lead in samples of particulate pollutants does not distinguish between organic and inorganic lead compounds), kraengningsmaaleren paa udspaendt traad,der normalt er en tyngderegistrerende anordning,kan ikke skelne mellem en aegte vinkel fra lodlinjen og en vandret acceleration (cannot distinguish between a true angle from the vertical and a horizontal acceleration, normally a gravity sensing device, the taut line inclinometer). (various references)

Dutch

onderscheiden, onderkennen (recognise, recognize). (various references)

Esperanto

distingi. (various references)

Faeroese

skilja frá, skilja (realize, understand), sermerkja, heiðra (commend, glorify, laud, praise), eyðkenna. (various references)

Farsi 

مشهورکردن (Fame, Renown), وجه تمایزقاءل شدن , تمیزدادن (Discern), تشخیص دادن (Assess, Discern, Espy, Judge, Recognize, Tell), دیفرانسیل گرفتن , دیدن (Behold, Coneive, Eye, Look, Notice, Observe, Perceive, See, Seeing, Sight, Twig, View, Vision). (various references)

Finnish

erottaa (detach, discharge, dismiss, fire, part, sack, separate). (various references)

French

distinguer (differentiate, discern). (various references)

German

unterscheiden (differentiate, discriminate, set apart, tell apart, to discern, to discriminate, to distinguish), hervorheben (accentuate, bring out, elevate, emblazon, emphasize, exaggerate, heighten, highlight, stress, to elevate, to emphasize), auszeichnen (award, be a feature of, decorate, honor, honour, label, Mark, mark up, price, signalize). (various references)

Greek 

ξεχωρίζω (assort, discriminate, distinguish between, individualize, know, make out, separate, single, single out, singularize, tell, tell apart), διακρίνω (descry, detect, differentiate, discern, make out). (various references)

Hebrew 

לחלוק (allot, apportion, divide, impart, share), לאפין (characterize, feature, typify), לאבחן (analyse, diagnose), ל�"ב�"יל (divide, segregate, separate). (various references)

Hungarian

megkülönböztet (demarcate, differentiate, discern, discriminate, to discern, to discriminate, to distinguish, to extricate, to make out), különbséget tesz (to discriminate, to draw a distinction, to make a distinction), felismer (identify, perceive, recognize, to awake to, to identify, to peg, to perceive, to pick out, to recognize). (various references)

Indonesian

membedakan (differentiate, discriminate, inflict). (various references)

Italian

distinguere (differentiate, discern, discriminate, distinguish oneself, know, Mark, recognize, set apart, single out, tell). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

見分ける (to distinguish, to identify, to recognize), � ��'�'表わす (to distinguish oneself, to stand out), 噛み分ける (to distinguish, to taste, to understand), 噛分ける (to distinguish, to taste, to understand), 名�'現す (to distinguish oneself), 弁ずる (to carry through, to discriminate, to dispose of, to distinguish, to manage), 弁じる (to argue, to carry through, to discriminate, to dispose of, to distinguish, to manage, to speak, to talk), 分かつ (to distinguish, to divide, to separate). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

な�'あらわす (to distinguish oneself), べ�"ずる (to answer the purpose, to carry through, to discriminate, to dispose of, to distinguish, to make convenient, to manage, will do), べ�"じる (to answer the purpose, to argue, to carry through, to discriminate, to dispose of, to distinguish, to make convenient, to manage, to speak, to talk, will do), かみわける (to distinguish, to taste, to understand), わかつ (to distinguish, to divide, to separate), みわける (to distinguish, to identify, to recognize), とうかく�'あらわす (to distinguish oneself, to stand out). (various references)

Korean 

구별하십시�". (various references)

Manx

scarrey (alienate, alienation, break away, break off, break up, come away, detach, detachment; spread, disconnect, disengage, disjoin, disjunction, dissociate, dissociation, disunion, disunite, diverge, divergence, divide, divorce, draw apart; spacing, insulation, leaving, part, part with, parting, relinquish, schism, secede, secession, segment, segregate, segregation, separate, separating, separation, sever, severance, shut off, slough, split up, start, sunder), eddyraghey (alternate, taking in turns). (various references)

Norwegian

utmerke, skjelne (discern). (various references)

Papiamen

distinguí. (various references)

Pig Latin

istinguishday

Portuguese

distinguir (characterize, contradistinguish, descry, difference, differentiate, discern, discriminate, know, lay up bare, mark, perceive, see, signalize, tell apart). (various references)

Romanian

distinge (descry, differentiate, dignify, discern, discriminate, honor, honour, perceive, single, singularize), deosebi (differ, discern, discriminate, pick out, remark, separate, specialize). (various references)

Russian 

различать (contradistinguish, differ, differentiate, discern, discriminate, make a distinction, pick out, tell apart, tell them apart). (various references)

Scottish

eadar-dhealaich (differentiate), comharraich (point out). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

uvideti (realize), razlikovati se (contrast, differ, vary), odlikovati se (characterize, distinguish oneself, excel, set apart), izdvajati (seclude, separate), istaći (accentuate, feature, headline, highlight, point up, post, set off, take, underlain). (various references)

Spanish

distinguir (discriminate, make out, mark off, mark out, pick out, signalize, tell, tell apart). (various references)

Swedish

utmärka (characterize, denote, designate, signalize, signpost), urskilja (discern, espy, make out, pick out, tell), särskilja (differentiate, discern, separate), känneteckna (characterize, feature). (various references)

Turkish

sivriltmek (diminish, fine away, fine down, point, sharpen, taper, whet), seçmek (adopt, be particular about, choose, co opt, constitute, coopt, cull, decide on, decide up, descry, elect, hand-pick, intend, intend for, look out, opt, perceive, pick, pick out, plump for, postulate, select, single out, spot), farketmek (become aware of, catch sight, descry, detect, discern, discover, espy, know, make a difference, make out, note, notice, observe, perceive, realize, recognize, remark, see, take notice), ayrım yapmak (differentiate, discriminate between, segregate), ayırt etmek (contradistinguish, contradistinguish from, descry, differentiate, discriminate, individuate, know, pick out, recognize, separate, spot, tell, tell apart, tell the difference), ayırmak (abstract, allocate, allot, allow, appropriate, assort, book, choose, classify, comb, comb out, contradistinguish, cut off, cut out, demarcate, detach, devote, disband, discard, disembody, disjoin, disrupt, dissever, dissociate, disunite, divert, divide, divorce, divorce from, earmark, except, hive off, insulate, intend for, isolate, keep apart, mark out, part, particularize, partition, partition off, pick out, portion, reduce, reserve, resolve, seclude, segregate, select, separate, sequester, set apart, set aside, sever, shut off, single out, snatch away from, snatch from, sort, sort out, spare, specialize, split, spread, spread out, sunder, sweep off, take apart, tear away, tear off, unpick, unstick, wall, winnow), anlamak (absorb, accept, appreciate, apprehend, ascertain, be knowledgeable about, be up to, catch, catch on, click, compass, comprehend, conceive, cotton on to, dawn on, deduce, dig, discern, discover, fathom, feel, figure out, get, get a grip, get a grip on, get the message, grasp, grip, latch on to, make of, pick out, read, realize, rumble, savvy, see, see into, seize, sense, sum up, take in, twig, understand, wake to, waken, work out). (various references)

Turkmen 

tapawutlandyr, seljermek (determine), saяgarmak, parhly bolmak. (various references)

Ukrainian

розпізнати (descry), характеризувати (character, characterize, define, phrase, speak), відрізняти (characterize, discern, discriminate, mark off, separate, tell apart), відокремлювати (abstract, dissever, isolate, mark off, seclude, segregate, separate, sever, single). (various references)

Welsh

darnodi (define, denote), hynodi (characterize), gwahaniaethu (differ). (various references)

discerne, discernendi, discernendum, discernent, discernere, discernit, discretionem, discrevit, distincta, distincte, distinctum, distinctus, distinguere, distinxerunt, distinxit, dividam, dividamur, dividant, dividat, dividatur, divide, dividebant, dividebantur, dividebat, dividebatque, dividens, divident, dividentem, dividentes, dividentque, dividentur, dividere, dividerent, divideres, divideret, divides, dividesque, dividet, dividetis, dividetur, dividit, dividite, dividitur, dividunt, dividuntur, divisa, divisae, divisam, divisaque, diviserunt, diviseruntque, divisi, divisique, divisis, divisisset, divisisti, divisit, divisitque, diviso, divisum, divisus, insigni, insignio, separa, separabat, separabis, separabit, separabitis, separabitur, separabunt, separabuntur, separamini, separant, separantur, separare, separaret, separari, separasti, separastis, separat, separata, separatae, separate, separati, separatis, separato, separator, separatum, separatur, separatus, separatusque, separaveras, separaverat, separaveris, separaverunt, separavi, separavit, separetur. (various references)

discerner. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations

Words beginning with "distinguish": distinguishabilities, distinguishability, distinguishable, distinguishably, distinguished, distinguishes, distinguishing. (additional references)

Words ending with "distinguish": contradistinguish. (additional references)

Words containing "distinguish": contradistinguished, contradistinguishes, contradistinguishing, indistinguishabilities, indistinguishability, indistinguishable, indistinguishableness, indistinguishablenesses, indistinguishably, undistinguished. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Distinguish" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: destinguish, distiguish, distingguish, distinguis, distinguishe, distinguishs, distinguishu, distingwish, distinquish. (additional references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-2 letters: histidins.

-3 letters: disusing, hindguts, histidin, hustings, insights, shindigs, suitings, tissuing, unsights.

-4 letters: disgust, dishing, dissing, dusting, hidings, hindgut, hissing, histing, insight, issuing, nudists, shindig, shuting, sidings, sudsing, suiting, tidings, tundish, tushing, unsight.

-5 letters: dhutis, dights, digits, dingus, hiding, insist, nights, nudist, shunts, siding, sights, siting, stings, suints, things, tiding.

+2 letters: distinguished, distinguishes.

+3 letters: distinguishing.

+4 letters: distinguishable, distinguishably, undistinguished.

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