verb
- Mark as different.
- usage: "We distinguish several kinds of maple"
- synonyms: separate, differentiate, secern, secernate, severalize, severalise, tell, tell apart
- Detect with the senses.
- usage: "The fleeing convicts were picked out of the darkness by the watchful prison guards"; "I can't make out the faces in this photograph"
- Be a distinctive feature, attribute, or trait; sometimes in a very positive sense.
- usage: "His modesty distinguishes him from his peers"
- synonyms: mark, differentiate
- Make conspicuous or noteworthy.
- Identify as in botany or biology, for example.
WordNet 3.0 © 2006 by Princeton University
| APA | WordNet. (2010). distinguish. Retrieved September 20, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/distinguish/definitions/1270836 |
| Chicago | WordNet. 2010. "distinguish" http://smartdefine.org/distinguish/definitions/1270836 (accessed September 20, 2026). |
| Harvard | WordNet 2010, distinguish, Smart Define, viewed 20 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/distinguish/definitions/1270836>. |
| MLA | WordNet. "distinguish" 23 October 2010. Web. 20 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/distinguish/definitions/1270836> |