- dis|tin|guish
- dis|tin|guish «dihs TIHNG gwihsh», transitive verb.2. to see or hear clearly; make out plainly: »
On a clear, bright day you can distinguish things far away.
SYNONYM(S): discern, perceive.3. to make different; be a special quality or feature of: »A trunk distinguishes the elephant. Ability to talk distinguishes human beings from the lower animals.
SYNONYM(S): differentiate, characterize.4. to make famous or well-known; confer distinction on: »He distinguished himself by winning three prizes.
5. to separate into different groups; classify: »Things are commonly distinguished into animal, vegetable, and mineral.
6. Archaic. to single out for special attention; honor: »They who first distinguished you have the best claim to your attention (Samuel Johnson).
–v.i.to see or show the difference; discriminate: »You learn to distinguish between right and wrong. The expert had a good eye for distinguishing between a fake and the genuine item.
╂[< Latin distinguere < dis- between + stinguere to separate; patterned on verbs ending in -ish, as in languish]–dis|tin´guish|er, noun.Synonym Study transitive verb. 1 intransitive verb. Distinguish, differentiate, discriminate mean to see or show the differences in or between things. Distinguish means to recognize the qualities and features of a thing that give it its special character and set it off from others: »He distinguished the violins from the cellos in the orchestra.
Differentiate means to point out the exact differences between one thing and others of the same class: »The teacher differentiated between Shakespeare's sonnets and Milton's.
Discriminate means to see the fine shades of difference between things: »Sometimes only experts can discriminate counterfeit bills from genuine money.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.
