Sample Sentences for
distinguish
grouped by contextual meaning
(editor-reviewed)

distinguish as in:  distinguish fact from opinion

Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    She can easily distinguish authentic paintings from forgeries by examining the brushwork.
    distinguish = recognize as different
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    Wu himself didn't often distinguish one kind of DNA from another.  (source)
    distinguish = treat as different
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    She couldn't seem to distinguish other people's suffering from her own.  (source)
    distinguish = recognize as different
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Show 10 more with 6 word variations
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    I took out my cannula so I could smell better, breathing him in and breathing him out, the scent fading even as I lay there, my chest burning until I couldn't distinguish among the pains.  (source)
    distinguish = tell apart
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    Deckard works as a "blade runner," a special type of cop who hunts down and kills replicants—genetically engineered beings that are almost indistinguishable from real humans.  (source)
    indistinguishable = not recognizable as different
    standard prefix: The prefix "in-" in indistinguishable means not and reverses the meaning of distinguishable. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
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    The Sumach, all the elderly women, and some of the Huron girls, had fallen by the bayonet, either in the confusion of the melee, or from the difficulty of distinguishing the sexes when the dress was so simple.  (source)
    distinguishing = recognizing the difference of
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    When they started separating the debris, a few bodies, or parts of them, became distinguishable.†  (source)
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    It distinguishes or* me from the multiplicity of Williams in the world.†  (source)
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    They were a violent punctuation to all those undistinguishable sentences, as if Shmuel wanted to shake his fist in the Nazi's face but didn't dare.†  (source)
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in undistinguishable means not and reverses the meaning of distinguishable. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
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    Even days later, when she looked up both terms in the Duden Dictionary, she couldn't distinguish between the two.  (source)
    distinguish = recognize as different
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    I'm indistinguishable from an unemployed guy for most of the day.†  (source)
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    The distinguishing feature of this algorithm is that it requires ultralarge amounts of computing power.†  (source)
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    The words were barely distinguishable from her chewing.†  (source)
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distinguish as in:  her accent distinguishes her

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    Her ability to stay calm under pressure is what distinguishes her from other candidates.
    distinguishes = sets apart
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    [W]e called her Grandma-down-the-hill. This was to distinguish her from our mother's mother, who we called Grandma-over-in-town ...  (source)
    distinguish = set apart
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    What distinguishes that summit above the earthly line, is that it is unhandselled, awful, grand.  (source)
    distinguishes = sets apart
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Show 6 more with 3 word variations
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    Jonas never found the Ceremony of Ten particularly interesting — only time-consuming, as each child's hair was snipped neatly into its distinguishing cut: females lost their braids at Ten, and males, too, relinquished their long childish hair and took on the more manly short style which exposed their ears.  (source)
    distinguishing = identifying characteristic
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    Their children are sometimes congenital idiots, like the hero of our story; sometimes they are found in the dock at the Assizes, where they are generally acquitted by the jury for edifying motives; sometimes they distinguish themselves by one of those burning scandals that amaze the public and add another blot to the stained record of our age.  (source)
    distinguish = stand out from others
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    Presenting ourselves not as adversaries but as friends has distinguished us as much as the fiery costumes.  (source)
    distinguished = set apart from others
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    Bullheads distinguishing civic feature is the Mohave Valley Highway, four lanes of asphalt lined with gas stations and fast-food franchises, chiropractors and video shops, auto-parts outlets and tourist traps.  (source)
    distinguishing = Main identifying
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    McCandless had told Westerberg that his destination was Saco Hot Springs, 240 miles to the east on U.S. Highway 2, a place he'd heard about from some "rubber tramps" (i.e., vagabonds who owned a vehicle; as distinguished from "leather tramps," who lacked personal transportation and were thus forced to hitchhike or walk).  (source)
    distinguished = set apart
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    There is only a single distinguishing characteristic that is absolutely reliable: On the underside of the wild potato's tiny green leaflets are conspicuous lateral veins; such veins are invisible on the leaflets of the wild sweet pea.  (source)
    distinguishing = identifying characteristic
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distinguish as in:  the distinguished scientist

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    The author's latest novel is a distinguished work of literature, praised by critics for its insightful prose and powerful storytelling.
    distinguished = admired
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    I can tell he likes the picture, although he says I didn't quite capture his distinguished nose.  (source)
    distinguished = dignified
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    Everyone has distinguished themselves either by strength or deadliness or cunning.  (source)
    distinguished = proved outstanding or gained respect
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    In May 1990, Chris graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, where he'd been a columnist for, and editor of, the student newspaper, The Emory Wheel, and had distinguished himself as a history and anthropology major with a 3.72 grade-point average.  (source)
    distinguished = stood out through achievement
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    More recently, the distinguished astronomer Fred Hoyle had claimed that a fossil winged dinosaur, Archaeopteryx, on display in the British Museum, was a fraud.  (source)
    distinguished = admired
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    She looked very distinguished, wearing a respectable black dress, the same gold loops she wore in her ears every day, and her white hair pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck.  (source)
    distinguished = dignified or admirable
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    You are...honorable people...from distinguished and reputable families and...proud lineage.  (source)
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    He pulled himself together a few hours later, when Admiral Chester Nimitz presented the Wake pilots with Distinguished Flying Crosses and their crewmen with Air Medals.  (source)
    Distinguished = stand out through excellence
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    His appearance would have been distinguished had it not been that he gave the idea of being rather dirty.  (source)
    distinguished = dignified
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    I had not expected such distinguished company, sir.†  (source)
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    And these are the granddaughters of the distinguished millionaire.†  (source)
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    Still, I always distinguished "my address" from "my home."†  (source)
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    I thought you looked very distinguished in it.†  (source)
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distinguish as in:  distinguish a vague shape

Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    In the distance, we could just distinguish the sound of footsteps approaching through the fog.
    distinguish = perceive something that is hard to detect
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    He thought he could distinguish a figure standing there.  (source)
    distinguish = see (make out what was there)
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    The darkness increased rather than diminished, but it was still possible, from the place where the adventurers lay, to distinguish the outlines of the mountains.  (source)
    distinguish = see something that is barely seeable
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Show 7 more with 3 word variations
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    Though spoken low, she could distinguish, "What! Always to be watched, in person or by proxy!"  (source)
    distinguish = hear something difficult to hear
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    The starlight was sufficient to permit objects to be plainly distinguished when near at hand, and the bright eyes of the girl had an expression of kindness in them, when they met those of the youth, that the latter was easily enabled to discover.  (source)
    distinguished = seen or identified
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    The sleeper was covered with a white sheet; the outline of the limbs was hardly distinguishable.  (source)
    distinguishable = able to be identified
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    The morning was so damp and misty that it was only with great difficulty that the day succeeded in breaking; and it was impossible to distinguish anything more than a few yards away from the carriage windows.  (source)
    distinguish = see (make out what was there)
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    And in the semi-darkness the prince distinguished a man standing close to the stairs, apparently waiting.  (source)
    distinguished = could see
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    The crowd whistled, clapped its hands, and laughed and shouted; but in a moment or two isolated voices were distinguishable.  (source)
    distinguishable = able to be identified
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    Owing to the distance—rather more than two hundred yards—and the obscurity, Deerslayer had been able barely to distinguish the group, and to see it retiring; but even this dim connection with human forms gave an animation to the scene that was strongly in contrast to the absolute solitude that remained.  (source)
    distinguish = see or identify
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