Synonyms

distinguish

American

[dih-sting-gwish] / dɪˈstɪŋ gwɪʃ /

verb (used with object)

to mark off as different (often followed by from orby ).

He was distinguished from the other boys by his height.
to recognize as distinct or different; recognize the salient or individual features or characteristics of.

It is hard to distinguish her from her twin sister.

Antonyms:

confuse
to perceive clearly by sight or other sense; discern; recognize.

He could not distinguish many of the words.
to set apart as different; be a distinctive characteristic of; characterize.

It is his Italian accent that distinguishes him.
to make prominent, conspicuous, or eminent.

to distinguish oneself in battle.
to divide into classes; classify.

Let us distinguish the various types of metaphor.
Archaic. to single out for or honor with special attention.

verb (used without object)

to indicate or show a difference (usually followed bybetween ).
to recognize or note differences; discriminate.

distinguish British

/ dɪˈstɪŋɡwɪʃ /

verb

to make, show, or recognize a difference or differences (between or among); differentiate (between)
to be a distinctive feature of; characterize
to make out; perceive
to mark for a special honour or title
to make (oneself) noteworthy

he distinguished himself by his cowardice
to classify; categorize

we distinguished three species

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Synonym Usage

Distinguish, differentiate, discriminate suggest an attempt to analyze characteristic features or qualities of things. To distinguish is to recognize the characteristic features belonging to a thing: to distinguish a light cruiser from a heavy cruiser. To discriminate is to perceive the particular, nice, or exact differences between things, to determine wherein these differences consist, and to estimate their significance: to discriminate prejudiced from unprejudiced testimony. To differentiate is to point out exactly and in detail the differences between (usually) two things: The symptoms of both diseases are so similar that it is hard to differentiate one from another.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of distinguish

First recorded in 1555–65; extension, by -ish ², of Middle English disting(u)en (from Anglo-French, Middle French distinguer ), from Latin distinguere; see distinct

Explanation

To distinguish means to tell apart. If you win the lottery, you’re going to need to learn to distinguish between people who really like you and people who like your money. To distinguish is to discern, which means to perceive or recognize the way something differs from what’s around it. It takes discerning taste buds to distinguish between Coke and Pepsi. Distinguish also means to separate yourself out from the pack, usually in a good way. You might distinguish yourself at a Comics Convention with your encyclopedic knowledge of Krazy Kat.

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Vocabulary lists containing distinguish

Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

distinguish distinguishes distinguished distinguishing

She should read labels, mistrust mysterious additives, interrogate old nutritional orthodoxies and learn to distinguish “real” food from whatever came before it.

From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026

"Dogs can distinguish between positive emotions and all the others, but they don't seem to be able to distinguish between the different negative emotions," Hernández-Pérez, also at the University of Vienna, told BBC News.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

"These quantum states carry information. Our crystal can distinguish them and move them from one point to another in a robust way without requiring cryogenic cooling. That's what opens the door to practical quantum technologies."

From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026

Airlines are competing fiercely to distinguish themselves when it comes to wine.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

This might or might not be true, but I tend to think it is, as Cloke almost certainly did not distinguish himself wherever it was that he happened to matriculate.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

“The ability to imagine a different world is what distinguishes the leaders of any social movement,” Linda Greenhouse once wrote of Ginsburg.

From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026

It is the only book with language that distinguishes which purchases fund FLAG’s mission or pay Adams directly.

From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026

The results suggest that the brain distinguishes between flavor and actual nutritional value.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

The approach to services is one thing that distinguishes Visa and Mastercard — businesses that, on a surface level, look very similar.

From MarketWatch ● May 25, 2026

What distinguishes the American Revolution from most, if not all, subsequent revolutions worthy of the name is that in the battle for supremacy, for the “true meaning” of the Revolution, neither side completely triumphed.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

"I'm really more of a paleoecologist, paleogeographer, not a taxonomist," says Dr. Cruz, who noticed unusual features in the Tar Pits specimens that distinguished S. labreae from known spadefoot toads.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026

Mark Joseph Stern: In your column at the end of this most recent term, you distinguished between the Supreme Court’s power to say what the law is after Marbury v.

From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026

Mr. Weigel is a distinguished fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

He has also distinguished between ongoing inflation and one-time price increases caused by supply constraints.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

They looked distinguished in their khaki uniforms, boots shining, half of a yellow sun sewn on their sleeves.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Kalshi’s latest oddball ad takes a more explanatory approach than its recent spots, explicitly distinguishing prediction markets from traditional sportsbooks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

First, practice distinguishing between what the Constitution says and what judges and justices say about the Constitution, a document riddled with aspirational vagaries and flexible abstractions.

From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2026

Inspecting roofs, especially distinguishing between wind and hail damage, involves a certain degree of subjective judgment.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026

Rather than viewing all senescent cells as dangerous, researchers increasingly believe the future of anti-aging medicine may depend on distinguishing harmful cells from beneficial ones.

From Science Daily ● May 22, 2026

Hume, in distinguishing relations of ideas from matters of fact, is recapitulating the fundamental intellectual conflict which gave rise to the Scientific Revolution.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023