Synonyms

distinguish

American

[dih-sting-gwish] / dɪˈstɪŋ gwɪʃ /

verb (used with object)

to mark off as different (often followed by from orby ).

He was distinguished from the other boys by his height.
to recognize as distinct or different; recognize the salient or individual features or characteristics of.

It is hard to distinguish her from her twin sister.

Antonyms:

confuse
to perceive clearly by sight or other sense; discern; recognize.

He could not distinguish many of the words.
to set apart as different; be a distinctive characteristic of; characterize.

It is his Italian accent that distinguishes him.
to make prominent, conspicuous, or eminent.

to distinguish oneself in battle.
to divide into classes; classify.

Let us distinguish the various types of metaphor.
Archaic. to single out for or honor with special attention.

verb (used without object)

to indicate or show a difference (usually followed bybetween ).
to recognize or note differences; discriminate.

distinguish British

/ dɪˈstɪŋɡwɪʃ /

verb

to make, show, or recognize a difference or differences (between or among); differentiate (between)
to be a distinctive feature of; characterize
to make out; perceive
to mark for a special honour or title
to make (oneself) noteworthy

he distinguished himself by his cowardice
to classify; categorize

we distinguished three species

"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

Synonym Usage

Distinguish, differentiate, discriminate suggest an attempt to analyze characteristic features or qualities of things. To distinguish is to recognize the characteristic features belonging to a thing: to distinguish a light cruiser from a heavy cruiser. To discriminate is to perceive the particular, nice, or exact differences between things, to determine wherein these differences consist, and to estimate their significance: to discriminate prejudiced from unprejudiced testimony. To differentiate is to point out exactly and in detail the differences between (usually) two things: The symptoms of both diseases are so similar that it is hard to differentiate one from another.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of distinguish

First recorded in 1555–65; extension, by -ish ², of Middle English disting(u)en (from Anglo-French, Middle French distinguer ), from Latin distinguere; see distinct

Explanation

To distinguish means to tell apart. If you win the lottery, you’re going to need to learn to distinguish between people who really like you and people who like your money. To distinguish is to discern, which means to perceive or recognize the way something differs from what’s around it. It takes discerning taste buds to distinguish between Coke and Pepsi. Distinguish also means to separate yourself out from the pack, usually in a good way. You might distinguish yourself at a Comics Convention with your encyclopedic knowledge of Krazy Kat.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing distinguish

Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List

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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.

See Examples For:

distinguish distinguishes distinguished distinguishing

Although loneliness and social isolation are often treated as the same thing in everyday conversation, researchers distinguish between them.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026

However, if stocks are priced too high or purchased with an abundance of debt, a crash can happen, as in 1929–33, when investors “fail to distinguish the miracle from the investment.”

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2026

The Bank said its inclusion added variety to the series, made the denominations easier to distinguish, and gave an opportunity to celebrate the British coastline.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

Many consumers struggle to distinguish between minimally processed and highly processed products due to confusing labels and marketing practices.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026

Life which we can no longer distinguish; life carefully buried up to its forehead in the carcass of a dead world.

From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick

“CoreWeave has established a reputation for reliability and performance that distinguishes it from peers,” Keirstead added.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

"There's nothing that distinguishes them from other bees really, they're not that kind of attention-grabbing species, but, you know, were you to look for them, go to ivy and you'll see them," Benwell said.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

This absence distinguishes Silescelida acristata from nearly all of its close relatives.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026

“The ability to imagine a different world is what distinguishes the leaders of any social movement,” Linda Greenhouse once wrote of Ginsburg.

From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026

For the month or so that they are visible, all that distinguishes them from the other stars in the sky is that they occupy a point of space that wasn’t filled before.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

Zacharia, in a post on X, thanked Trump for the "distinguished privilege of serving as White House Press Secretary."

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

The study was one of the final research publications involving Peter Littlewood, a distinguished UChicago physicist who died on June 15.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026

Osman is well qualified to answer, having enjoyed a distinguished first-team career at Everton stretching between 2003 and 2016.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

While one might argue that those are original titles of distinguished quality, it’s unfair to write off “Resident Evil” simply because it’s a game adaptation.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

All the magic of dawn had gone now, and in its place was a gray early morning, distinguished only by a summers mist which was sure to burn off soon.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

"So for example, people of colour, gender, queer people, people with kind of interesting and distinguishing facial features, it means that they're going to be left out," she said.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

The EV’s most distinguishing feature is its mouthless face that, needing to admit less cooling airflow, omits an upper grille opening.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

She stressed, however, the importance of distinguishing between literary criticism and what often passes for such on social media but which, in her view, amounts to "advertising."

From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026

First, practice distinguishing between what the Constitution says and what judges and justices say about the Constitution, a document riddled with aspirational vagaries and flexible abstractions.

From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2026

An intense stubbornness seemed to be his distinguishing feature.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

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