Link Centre Dictionary

distinction

dis·tinc·tion

UK/dɪˈstɪŋkʃən/ US/dɪˈstɪŋkʃʌn/ fairly common

noun

1.

a discrimination between things as different and distinct

  • “it is necessary to make a distinction between love and infatuation”
Synonyms
2.

high status importance owing to marked superiority

  • “a scholar of great eminence”
Synonyms
3.

a distinguishing quality

  • “it has the distinction of being the cheapest restaurant in town”
4.

a distinguishing difference

  • “he learned the distinction between gold and lead”

Origin

From Middle English distinccioun, from Old French distinction (attested from the 12th century), borrowed from Latin distinctiōnem, action noun of distinguō (“separate, distinguish”). By surface analysis, distinct (“to distinguish”) + -ion. Attested in English from the late 14th century.

Phrases

  • distinction without a difference
  • error/mistake distinction
  • fact-value distinction
  • T-V distinction
  • type-token distinction
  • use-mention distinction
  • words-as-words distinction

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.