# 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: /dɪˈstɪŋktɪv/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Adjective

distinctive (comparative more distinctive, superlative most distinctive)
* 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.
* (rare) Discriminating, discerning, having the ability to distinguish between things.
** 1650, Thomas Browne, chapter 3, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, page 75:[…] more judicious and distinctive heads...
* 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.
* (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.
* (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.
* (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

* biodistinctive
* counterdistinctive
* distinctive feature
* distinctively
* distinctiveness
* distinctive paper
* indistinctive
* nondistinctive
* undistinctive

#### Related terms

* contradistinctive
* distinct
* distinction
* distinguish
* distinguishable
* distinguishness

#### Translations
### Noun

distinctive (plural distinctives)
* 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...
* (Hebrew grammar) A distinctive accent.
** 1874, Andrew Bruce Davidson, Introductory Hebrew Grammar, page 27:A distinctive of less power than Zakeph is Ṭiphḥâ.
* (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: 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: /dis.tɛ̃k.tiv/
* Homophone: distinctives

### Adjective

distinctive
* feminine singular of distinctif