Nearby Words

distinctive

[dih-stingk-tiv] Example Sentences Origin

dis·tinc·tive

[dih-stingk-tiv]
adjective
1.
serving to distinguish; characteristic; distinguishing: the distinctive stripes of the zebra.
2.
having a special quality, style, attractiveness, etc.; notable.

Origin:
1575–85; < Medieval Latin distinctīvus, equivalent to Latin distinct(us) distinct + -īvus -ive

dis·tinc·tive·ly, adverb
dis·tinc·tive·ness, noun
sub·dis·tinc·tive, adjective
sub·dis·tinc·tive·ly, adverb
sub·dis·tinc·tive·ness, noun

distinctive, distinguishable, distinguished.


1. individual.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Distinctive is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
Example Sentences
  • It is the process of star birth that gives N11 its distinctive look.
  • Some family names almost beg for a distinctive given name.
  • Their location and characteristic patterns are often distinctive.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
distinctive (dɪˈstɪŋktɪv)
 
adj
1.  serving or tending to distinguish
2.  denoting one of a set of minimal features of a phoneme in a given language that serve to distinguish it from other phonemes. The distinctive features of /p/ in English are that it is voiceless, bilabial, non-nasal, and plosive; /b/ is voiced, bilabial, non-nasal, and plosive: the two differ by the distinctive feature of voice
 
dis'tinctively
 
adv
 
dis'tinctiveness
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

distinctive
"markedly individual," 1580s; from distinct + -ive. Related: Distinctively.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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