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.
Her lead performance as a therapist, caretaker to an acutely ill daughter and maker of curious decisions showcases the Australian actor’s distinctive gift for tragicomedy.
From Los Angeles Times
By avoiding the dramatic lighting and exaggerated special effects often seen in pictures of youth culture, he landed on a distinctive visual style.
From Los Angeles Times
They crash against each other, producing a distinctive roaring sound, and sometimes rise to eye level.
From Barron's
Each puzzle was paired with its own distinctive soundtrack.
From Science Daily
Fender’s guitars had a distinctive bright, twangy sound, and futuristic styling.
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.
