distinction

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a distinguishing difference

   We learned the distinction between gold and lead.

2. 2
   noun

   a distinguishing quality

   It has the distinction of being the cheapest restaurant in town.

3. 3
   noun

   a discrimination between things as different and distinct

   It is necessary to make a distinction between love and infatuation.

4. 4
   noun

   high status importance owing to marked superiority

   They are a violinist of distinction.

5. 5
   noun

   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 […]

6. 6
   noun

   The act of distinguishing, discriminating; discrimination.

   There is a distinction to be made between resting and slacking.

7. 7
   noun

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

   Gedeon Van Rompay had the dubious distinction of being the only Site employee personally hired by Edwin Falkirk, former All Sections Chief and perennial piece of human trash. Lillian had found it easy not to hold this against the man, but only because there were so many other odious things about him to choose from. He was misogynist, he was chauvinistic, he was boorish, he was violent. Just about the only metric on which she rated Van Rompay higher than Falkirk was transphobia; the big man made no distinction between varieties of womanhood, feeling superior to all of them equally.

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.