diacritical

American

[dahy-uh-krit-i-kuhl] / ˌdaɪ əˈkrɪt ɪ kəl /

adjective

serving to distinguish; distinctive.
capable of distinguishing.
Phonetics. serving as a diacritic.

diacritical British

/ ˌdaɪəˈkrɪtɪkəl /

adjective

of or relating to a diacritic
showing up a distinction

"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

Other Word Forms

diacritically

adverb

Etymology

Origin of diacritical

First recorded in 1740–50; diacritic + -al ¹

Vocabulary lists containing diacritical

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Example Sentences

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diacritical

Out of respect for the previously banned Hawaiian language, we are using diacritical marks in this column that more accurately convey meaning and pronunciation.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 21, 2023

Note: The Vietnamese words in the original version of this essay used diacritical marks.

From New York Times ● Aug. 2, 2023

Vowels were in the main not written as letters, but added as diacritical marks as in Arabic.

From BBC ● Nov. 26, 2022

Related How to type special characters on a Windows 10 PC Use the touch keyboard The easiest way to add diacritical marks to a document is to enable the Windows touch keyboard.

From The Verge ● Apr. 26, 2022

I repeat, Ha, and wish I knew enough English to tell her to listen for the diacritical mark, this one directing the tone downward.

From "Inside Out and Back Again" by Thanhha Lai

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