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

Vocabulary lists containing diacritical

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Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

diacritical

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 ● Feb. 7, 2024

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

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

From BBC ● Nov. 26, 2022

Long press on the touch keyboard to reveal the letter with various diacritical marks.

From The Verge ● Apr. 26, 2022

Written Astrolinguish was awash in diacritical marks, with lots of umlauts, accents, and tildes.

From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater

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