distinctive
Americanadjective
-
serving to distinguish; characteristic; distinguishing: distinguishing.
the distinctive stripes of the zebra.
- Synonyms:
- individual
-
having a special quality, style, attractiveness, etc.; notable.
adjective
-
serving or tending to distinguish
-
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
Other Word Forms
- distinctively adverb
- distinctiveness noun
- subdistinctive adjective
- subdistinctively adverb
- subdistinctiveness noun
Etymology
Origin of distinctive
First recorded in 1575–85; from Medieval Latin distinctīvus; equivalent to distinct + -ive
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.
"The discovery of this distinctive new termite species underscores the vast number of unnamed organisms yet to be discovered on our planet," said Scheffrahn.
From Science Daily • Apr. 1, 2026
Along with her distinctive voice, Robyn has great taste in collaborators.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026
Also known as Messor cephalotes, these ants are native to East Africa and known for their distinctive seed-gathering behaviour making them popular with ant collectors.
From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026
"One of Monaco's distinctive features is a kind of positive secularism, which recognises the legitimate autonomy of the spiritual and temporal spheres," Guillaume Paris, a senior clergyman in Monaco, told AFP.
From Barron's • Mar. 25, 2026
“I can tell that by looking at your hands, Arrabelle,” Lillian said, glancing down at lined, leathery hands as distinctive as gloves.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
