distinction
That which distinguishes; a single occurrence of a determining factor or feature, the fact of being divided; separation, discrimination.
Other meanings
The act of distinguishing, discriminating; discrimination.
“There is a distinction to be made between resting and slacking.”
A feature that causes someone or something to stand out from others of its type.
Synonyms
- differentiation
Related words
- counterdistinction
- distinctional
- distinctionless
- indistinction
- microdistinction
- contradistinction
- T-V distinction
- use-mention distinction
- type-token distinction
- fact-value distinction
Example sentences
Word history
From Latin "distinctio".
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “distinction” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.