distinctive

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈstɪŋktɪv/

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

distinctive (comparative more distinctive, superlative most distinctive)

1. Distinguishing, used to or enabling the distinguishing of some thing.

   a product in distinctive packaging

   • 1583, Philip Stubbes, The Anatomie of Abuses, Folio V:

     Our Apparell was giuen vs as a signe distinctiue to discern betwixt sex and sex.

2. (rare) Discriminating, discerning, having the ability to distinguish between things.
   • 1650, Thomas Browne, chapter 3, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: , 2nd edition, London: A Miller, for Edw Dod and Nath Ekins, , →OCLC, 2nd book, page 75:

     […] more judicious and distinctive heads...

3. Characteristic, typical.

   his distinctive bass voice

   • 1856, John Ruskin, Modern Painters , volume III, London: Smith, Elder and Co., , →OCLC, part IV (Of Many Things), page 293:

     Wordsworth's distinctive work was a war with pomp and pretence, and a display of the majesty of simple feelings and humble hearts.

4. (rare) Distinguished, being distinct in character or position.
   • 1867, Samuel Smiles, chapter XVII, in The Huguenots, page 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, page 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 et al., Language, number 3, page 129:

     Normally we symbolize only phonemes (distinctive features) so far as we can determine them.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

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, volume I, page 189:

     ...the red umbrella, the distinctive of royalty here...

2. (Hebrew grammar) A distinctive accent.
   • 1874, Andrew Bruce Davidson, Introductory Hebrew Grammar, page 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, page 154:

     Mennonites could go forth somewhat detached from the chauvinism of Western culture—but not so from the Mennonite distinctives.

References

• “distinctive”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1896.
• “distinctive”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “distinctive”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dis.tɛ̃k.tiv/
• Homophone: distinctives

Adjective

distinctive

1. feminine singular of distinctif