Contextualizebeta

distinction

noun
/dɪˈstɪŋkʃən/

Etymology

From Middle English distinccioun, from Old French distinction (attested from the 12th century), borrowed from Latin distinctiōnem, action noun of distinguō (“separate, distinguish”). Attested in English from the late 14th century.

  1. derived from distinctio
  2. derived from distinction
  3. inherited from distinccioun

Definitions

  1. That which distinguishes

    That which distinguishes; a single occurrence of a determining factor or feature, the fact of being divided; separation, discrimination.

    • The proper course for me, gentlemen of the jury, is to deal first with the earliest charges that have been falsely brought against me, and with my earliest accursers; and then with the later ones. I make this distinction because […]

  2. The act of distinguishing, discriminating

    The act of distinguishing, discriminating; discrimination.

    • There is a distinction to be made between resting and slacking.
    • We must always make a distinction that right versus wrong is different from legal and illegal.

  3. A feature that causes someone or something to stand out from others of its type.

The neighborhood

Derived

contradistinction, counterdistinction, distinctional, distinctionless, distinction without a difference, error/mistake distinction, fact-value distinction, indistinction, microdistinction, T-V distinction, type-token distinction, use-mention distinction

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at distinction. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01distinction02divided03emotions04emotion05internal06nature07totality08aggregate

A definitional loop anchored at distinction. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at distinction

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA