distinctive
Americanadjective
-
serving to distinguish; characteristic; 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
Etymology
Origin of distinctive
First recorded in 1575–85; from Medieval Latin distinctīvus; equivalent to distinct + -ive
Explanation
Her big eyes and plump lips are distinctive features that make her a great model. These are just some of the special features that distinguish her. You might recognize the Latin prefix dis in the adjective distinctive. Dis often means "apart" or "away." Think of this when trying to remember the word distinctive. Someone with distinctive features has features that set them "apart" from others. Yes, its stepped-back architecture and distinctive spire are among the Empire State Building's distinctive features, but its most distinctive feature has to be its height: for decades there wasn't another building in New York that came close!
Vocabulary lists containing distinctive
The Giver
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Walk Two Moons
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The Breadwinner
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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.
This improbable beginning, which trade-paper commentators call the picture's "distinctly unique premise," launches a tearful story that rambles through New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and back to New York by way of Canada.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mark Twain's method as a lecturer was distinctly unique and novel.
From Mark Twain by Henderson, Archibald
For the next two years the life the last De Willoughby lived in the old house, though distinctly unique, was not favourable to the development of youth.
From In Connection with the De Willoughby Claim by Burnett, Frances Hodgson
The scheme of decoration within, as without, is distinctly unique.
From Royal Palaces and Parks of France by McManus, Blanche
It was marked by a monument distinctly unique in a European country.
From Told in a French Garden August, 1914 by Aldrich, Mildred
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.
