distinctive
dis·tinc·tive
adjective
1.
of a feature that helps to distinguish a person or thing
- “Jerusalem has a distinctive Middle East flavor” Curtis Wilkie
- “that is typical of you!”
2.
3.
serving to distinguish or identify a species or group
- “the distinguishing mark of the species is its plumage”
- “distinctive tribal tattoos”
- “we were asked to describe any identifying marks or distinguishing features”
Origin
From Latin distinctus, perfect passive participle of distinguere (to push apart, to divide; see distinct) + -ive (forming adjectives signifying relation or tendency to). Cognate with French distinctif and Medieval Latin distinctivus.
Phrases
- distinctive feature
- distinctive paper
Related words
Word family
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.