Wiktionary

distinctive

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin distinctus, perfect passive participle of distinguere (“to push apart, to divide”), + -ive (forming adjectives signifying relation or tendency to). Cognate with French distinctif and Medieval Latin distinctivus.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /dɪˈstɪŋktɪv/
  • Audio (US)(file)

AdjectiveEdit

distinctive (comparative more distinctive, superlative most distinctive)

  1. Distinguishing, used to or enabling the distinguishing of some thing.
    • 1583, Philip Stubbes, The Anatomie of Abuses, Folio V:
      Our Apparell was giuen vs as a signe distinctiue to discern betwixt sex and sex.
    a product in distinctive packaging
  2. (rare) Discriminating, discerning, having the ability to distinguish between things.
  3. Characteristic, typical.
    his distinctive bass voice
  4. (rare) Distinguished, being distinct in character or position.
    • 1867, Samuel Smiles, The Huguenots, Ch. xvii, p. 432:
      The refugees... at length ceased to exist as a distinctive body among the people.
  5. (Hebrew grammar, of accents) Used to separate clauses in place of stops.
    • 1874, Andrew Bruce Davidson, Introductory Hebrew Grammar, p. 27:
      These are the main distinctive accents, and by stopping at them... the reader will do justice to the sense.
  6. (linguistics, of sounds) Distinguishing a particular sense of word.
    • 1927, L. Bloomfield & al., Language, No. 3, p. 129:
      Normally we symbolize only phonemes (distinctive features) so far as we can determine them.

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

distinguishing — See also translations at distinguishing
characteristic — See also translations at characteristic

NounEdit

distinctive (plural distinctives)

  1. A distinctive thing: a quality or property permitting distinguishing; a characteristic.
    • 1816, Maurice Keatinge, Travels through France and Spain to Morocco, Vol. I, p. 189:
      ...the red umbrella, the distinctive of royalty here...
  2. (Hebrew grammar) A distinctive accent.
    • 1874, Andrew Bruce Davidson, Introductory Hebrew Grammar, p. 27:
      A distinctive of less power than Zakeph is Ṭiphḥâ.
  3. (theology) A distinctive belief, tenet, or dogma of a denomination or sect.
    • 1979, Theron F. Schlabach, "Gospel versus Gospel" in Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History, p. 154:
      Mennonites could go forth somewhat detached from the chauvinism of Western culture—but not so from the Mennonite distinctives.

ReferencesEdit

FrenchEdit

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

distinctive

  1. feminine singular of distinctif
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