Synonyms

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

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.

Yes, plenty of people, upon hearing the biggest music announcement of the year, started thinking about diacritical marks and then talking about them on social media.

From New York Times

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

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

From New York Times

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

From BBC

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

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