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distinction
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
distinction
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a fundamental distinction (=a clear difference between two similar things)
▪ A fundamental distinction exists between knowing a fact and understanding it.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
clear
▪ However, the courts did not recognise a clear cut distinction between the two classes of case.
▪ For there is a clear distinction between tolerating dissent and propagating it.
▪ It asserts that there is a clear distinction between the two kinds of statement and that there is no third kind.
▪ Observing the team in operation, our new employee will notice that there appear to be no clear job distinctions.
▪ Unfortunately this clear conceptual distinction between perceptions and attitudes is unrealistic.
▪ Some Republicans believe Dole can draw a clear enough distinction with Clinton to make foreign policy a telling issue in the campaign.
▪ In other words, there is a clear distinction between application logic and the computer representation of that logic.
▪ Is there in fact such a clear distinction to be maintained between civil association or societas and enterprise association or universitas?
dubious
▪ Sarah, left alone, had the dubious distinction of being the last of all the Titfords in Frome.
fine
▪ The appreciation of fine wine and the appreciation of fine intellectual distinctions often go together.
▪ Amoda was an erudite man who insisted on fine distinctions.
▪ This alone could not take into account the much finer distinctions that it is necessary to look at when determining social class.
▪ It starts out with a familiar idea and then builds on it, making neater analogies and finer distinctions.
fundamental
▪ Without these fundamental distinctions the economic privileges of the profession are suspect.
▪ Even at this early stage in their careers, fundamental distinctions in approach were emerging.
▪ That seems to me to be the fundamental distinction, and should be fully preserved.
▪ Clearly there is a considerable overlap between top-down and bottom-up plans, but the fundamental distinction needs making.
▪ But such a conception is to overlook a fundamental distinction about the two activities.
further
▪ One further distinction needs to be drawn.
▪ There is a further problem of distinction inherent in Marx's concept of ideology.
▪ A further distinction can be drawn between what is given and what is new in a message.
▪ There is however, one further distinction which is rarely noted, but which it is important to draw attention to here.
▪ We have a further distinction from the private sector in that we have a prior commitment.
▪ Sometimes, though, morphological agreement can make further distinctions not overtly made by the pronouns themselves.
▪ Under the conditions that usually obtain in receptive field plotting studies one further distinction has been reported.
▪ But there is one further distinction which needs to be made.
great
▪ Lunia was a beautiful young woman with an air of great distinction.
▪ The great distinction, clearly, is between the areas with and without animal husbandry.
▪ He was to teach Sixth Form Mathematics with great distinction from 1921 until his own retirement.
▪ A social scientist of great distinction and international reputation, Malinowski was a founder of modern social anthropology.
▪ Again, there were considerable variations between the townships, the greatest distinctions being between the working-class and middle-class communities.
▪ A greater distinction between the two systems of safeguards, though, lies in their psychology.
▪ One of its greatest distinctions is a heated indoor swimming pool with sauna.
▪ He was a very kind, youngish, amiable scholar of great distinction, and a power in the university.
important
▪ However, there is at least one important distinction.
▪ The reader is asked to be alert to that important distinction as this narrative unfolds.
▪ The first and least important distinction is between local and global sceptical arguments.
▪ An important distinction, but one a lawyer can lose sight of.
▪ These responses mark an important distinction in the later appreciation of Eliot.
▪ The from / to nature of most discussions about change begins to make important distinctions.
▪ These are perhaps the most important distinctions in the use of deictic terms, but they are not the only ones.
real
▪ But that is not the real distinction.
▪ But the real distinction to be made is not of age or costume: There are two kinds of birders.
▪ Do current practices reflect a real distinction between administrative and managerial activities? 3.
▪ Pigeons tend to be larger and doves to be smaller, but no real distinction.
▪ The real distinction doesn't lie in the fact of ownership, but in control.
▪ However, the directive is likely to remove any real distinction between personal data held on paper and on electronic systems.
sharp
▪ What empirical evidence is there that might persuade us to give credence to this sharp and absolute distinction?
▪ All sports came to make sharp distinctions between those who received payment and those who did not.
▪ A sharp distinction between soma and germ line makes it possible to prevent acquired characters from being transmitted.
▪ The proliferation of retention of title clauses requires a sharp distinction to be drawn between contracts of sale and agency.
▪ There is no sharp distinction between the later stages of transition and the earlier ones of turbulent motion.
▪ Behaviouralists drew a sharp distinction between normative and scientific statements, and made it the hallmark of science to avoid the normative.
▪ We can not, therefore, draw too sharp a distinction between nuclear and extended family types.
social
▪ These social distinctions were reflected in the residential patterns of workers associated with the stations.
▪ There was very little if any social distinction between the subsidized private estates and the 1920s council housing.
▪ Differences in wealth were not easily transmuted into self-conscious social distinctions, but they did require certain forms of expenditure.
▪ Hygiene becomes a matter of social distinction: polite people always wear clean linen.
▪ Moreover, response was often a matter of context, and of finely attuned social and cultural distinctions.
▪ In Taï chimpanzees, too, we find a tendency towards such social distinctions, though the divisions are far from straight forward.
▪ How their absence of social distinction affected the performance of their duties can only be guessed.
▪ Indicates that there should be greater choice of housing and that social distinctions should not be reinforced.
■ NOUN
class
▪ Talk about class distinction, snobbery, it makes one bloody sick to think about it.
▪ That fact, and the recent changes in the social environment, have translated into few class distinctions on campus.
▪ In the second section, he cuts himself off from his humble family and is influenced greatly by class distinctions.
▪ Life was hard for the peasants, especially in the conservative south, where class distinctions were pronounced.
▪ The class distinctions we employ, you would maintain, are descriptive not pejorative.
▪ But about that time, presumably anticipating an early victory, the Communists imposed class distinctions on the movement.
▪ It was after the Second World War that the class distinction in station facilities disappeared, although it remained on the trains.
▪ The Democratic Republic is very bureaucratic, very much full of class distinctions.
gender
▪ Only those strategies used to overcome difficulties arising from gender distinctions will be commented on.
▪ The gender distinction nevertheless exists in some semantic areas and in the person system.
▪ In some languages, such as Arabic, gender distinctions apply to the second- as well as third-person pronouns.
▪ I mentioned earlier that the gender distinction in Arabic applies to the second as well as third person.
▪ The gender distinction is avoided by using a totally different structure throughout the whole set of instructions.
■ VERB
achieve
▪ He achieved the rare distinction of being equally famous in more than one field at the same time.
▪ Caradryel achieved another distinction - he was the first Phoenix King to die peacefully in bed.
▪ Both have achieved this distinction five times.
▪ This House of Lords decision still did not achieve a clear distinction between leases and licences.
blur
▪ It is easy to blur such distinctions.
▪ All around us, Negroponte says, computers are blurring the distinction between atoms and bits.
▪ These considerations tend to blur the distinction somewhat.
▪ They do not blur the distinction between testation and intestacy, but they mitigate it.
▪ The development of the concept of abuse of power blurred the distinction between merits and vires.
▪ And thirdly, by distributing company stock to employees it has blurred the capital-labour distinction in a number of firms.
▪ Mosley too became increasingly prone to blur the distinction between art, philosophy and life.
▪ Critical seminars within the university may sometimes blur this distinction if they contain elements of genuine intellectual exchange.
draw
▪ I draw no distinction between those who wield the weapons of destruction and those who do red-cross work.
▪ Why draw a distinction between the adopted and the biological child?
▪ We shall see that Law drew a clear distinction between innocent and fraudulent misrepresentation.
▪ However, if your company does not draw this distinction, the entire reimbursement is considered wages.
▪ But the impossibility of drawing this distinction may be bad for the arts.
▪ Some Republicans believe Dole can draw a clear enough distinction with Clinton to make foreign policy a telling issue in the campaign.
▪ The Convention draws no distinction between types of treaty.
▪ I decline to draw any distinctions...
maintain
▪ Hardaker maintains that a distinction must be preserved between work and the inner life.
▪ It is important, but in practice exceedingly difficult, to maintain this distinction at all times in the study of meaning.
make
▪ However, Mr. Lawson then continues by making no distinction whatsoever between tobacco sponsorship and any other form of sponsorship.
▪ S., but you must make a distinction between derivatives and a complex derivative strategy.
▪ As you do so, try to build up a system of classification, explaining your basis for making distinctions.
▪ But he was not about to make that distinction.
▪ Why do these bodies make this distinction?
▪ But early users of the language would not have made such a distinction.
▪ The Bible makes a definite distinction between them, though the distinction is not hard and fast.
▪ Children do not make the same rigid distinction between humans and animals that adults learn to make.
serve
▪ Charles was only ever jealous of him when he served with some distinction as a helicopter pilot during the Falklands war.
▪ Against a lawyer who I think we all know has served this court with distinction for many years.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
draw a comparison/parallel/distinction etc
▪ Here Locke draws a parallel between modes such as triangles, and substances such as gold and the Strasburg clock.
▪ I drew a parallel between the grinding plates and the grinding, unresolved pressures underlying this election year.
▪ I will start by drawing a distinction between what I will call social science history and hermeneutic history.
▪ It is also clear that it is difficult to draw comparisons between the Western Isles and the developing countries.
▪ It is now commonplace to draw a distinction between care in and care by the community.
▪ John Mortimer made the presentation speech, drawing parallels between Dickens and Dostoevsky.
▪ Why draw a distinction between the adopted and the biological child?
the dubious honour/distinction/pleasure (of doing sth)
▪ I therefore inherited the dubious honour of making it available on loan to youth workers.
▪ Mr Edmond has the dubious honour of being tried by the District of Columbia's first anonymous jury.
▪ Sarah, left alone, had the dubious distinction of being the last of all the Titfords in Frome.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a poet of distinction
▪ Pablo insists that he is Basque, not Spanish - an important distinction.
▪ There is a clear distinction between lawful protest and illegal strike action.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ In addition to the main distinction based on participant roles, the person system may be organized along a variety of other dimensions.
▪ Life was hard for the peasants, especially in the conservative south, where class distinctions were pronounced.
▪ One of the few notions from game theory to penetrate the popular culture was the distinction of zero-sum and nonzero-sum games.
▪ Perhaps the neatest way of expressing the distinction is to contrast unilateral and cooperative procedures.
▪ The distinctions between the three cell types are quite subtle and may only be obvious after quite extensive testing.
▪ The plan would introduce a single class of bearer shares, abolishing the distinction between registered and bearer shares.
▪ To many, the distinction between rote memorization and understanding is unclear and leads to confused teaching and learning.
▪ When conceptual distinctions are expressed in language they are referred to as semantic relations.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Distinction

Distinction \Dis*tinc"tion\, n. [L. distinctio: cf. F. distinction.]

  1. A marking off by visible signs; separation into parts; division. [Obs.]

    The distinction of tragedy into acts was not known.
    --Dryden.

  2. The act of distinguishing or denoting the differences between objects, or the qualities by which one is known from others; exercise of discernment; discrimination.

    To take away therefore that error, which confusion breedeth, distinction is requisite.
    --Hooker.

  3. That which distinguishes one thing from another; distinguishing quality; sharply defined difference; as, the distinction between real and apparent good.

    The distinction betwixt the animal kingdom and the inferior parts of matter.
    --Locke.

  4. Estimation of difference; regard to differences or distinguishing circumstance.

    Maids, women, wives, without distinction, fall.
    --Dryden.

  5. Conspicuous station; eminence; superiority; honorable estimation; as, a man of distinction.

    Your country's own means of distinction and defense.
    --D. Webster.

    Syn: Difference; variation, variety; contrast; diversity; contrariety; disagreement; discrimination; preference; superiority; rank; note; eminence.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
distinction

c.1200, "one of the parts into which something is divided;" mid-14c. as "action of distinguishing," from Old French distinction and directly from Latin distinctionem (nominative distinctio) "separation, distinction, discrimination," noun of action from past participle stem of distinguere (see distinguish). Meaning "distinctive nature or character" is late 14c. Meaning "excellence or eminence" (what distinguishes from others) is first recorded 1690s.

Wiktionary
distinction

n. 1 That which distinguishes; a single occurrence of a determining factor or feature, the fact of being divided; separation, discrimination. 2 The act of distinguishing, discriminating; discrimination.

Related phrases:
WordNet
distinction

  1. n. a discrimination between things as different and distinct; "it is necessary to make a distinction between love and infatuation" [syn: differentiation]

  2. high status importance owing to marked superiority; "a scholar of great eminence" [syn: eminence, preeminence, note]

  3. a distinguishing quality; "it has the distinction of being the cheapest restaurant in town"

  4. a distinguishing difference; "he learned the distinction between gold and lead"

Wikipedia
Distinction

Distinction may refer to:

  • Two or more things being distinct from one another
Distinction (book)

Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste is a 1979 book by Pierre Bourdieu, based upon the author’s empirical research from 1963 until 1968. A sociological report about the state of French culture, Distinction was first published in English translation in 1984. In 1998 the International Sociological Association voted La Distinction as one of the ten most important books of sociology of the 20th century.

Distinction (philosophy)
''For Pierre Bourdieu's book, Distinction, see La Distinction.''

Distinction, the fundamental philosophical abstraction, involves the recognition of difference.

Cybernetics deals with the rational paradox of self-reference by distinguishing it from hetero-reference in the abstract distinction. Prefacing the distinction comes the ' proemial relation' (a term coined by Gotthard Gunther in his 1970 paper "Cognition and Volition") between subjectivity and profundity which, by the mark of distinction, become distinguished.

George Spencer-Brown's calculus of indication (see the Laws of Form) starts with the injunction "Draw a distinction". The consequences of this primordial actuality include all given dimensionality and time.

Distinction (sociology)

In sociology, distinction is a social force that assigns different values upon different people within a given society. In Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste (La Distinction, 1979), Pierre Bourdieu described how the powers that be define aesthetic concepts such as “ Taste”, whereby the social class of a person tends to determine his or her cultural interests, likes, and dislikes, and how political and socio-economic, racial and sexual distinctions, based upon social class, are reinforced in daily life within society. Moreover, in The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can’t be Jammed (2004), Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter describe “distinction” as a social competition in which the styles of social fashion are in continual development, and that the men and women who do not follow the development of social trends soon become stale, and irrelevant to their social-class stratum.

Distinction (law)

Distinction is a principle under international humanitarian law governing the legal use of force in an armed conflict, whereby belligerents must distinguish between combatants and civilians. Distinction and proportionality are important factors in assessing military necessity in that the harm caused to civilians or civilian property must be proportional and not excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated by an attack on a military objective.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "distinction".

The Abenaki visitors arrived towards the end of April, and were received with all possible distinction.

Roger Minott Sherman was unquestionably the ablest lawyer in New England who never obtained distinction in political life, and, with the exception of Daniel Webster and Jeremiah Mason and Rufus Choate, the ablest New England ever produced.

Conspicuous among them was Marcus Morton, who had been Governor and one of our ablest Supreme Court judges, and his son, afterward Chief Justice, then just rising into distinction as a lawyer.

But Adams adamantly opposed hereditary monarchy and hereditary aristocracy in America, as well as all hereditary titles, honors, or distinctions of any kind--it was why he, like Jefferson and Franklin, strongly opposed the Society of the Cincinnati, the association restricted to Continental Army officers, which had a hereditary clause in its rules whereby membership was passed on to eldest sons.

Rank and distinction were essential to any social organization, be it a family, a parish, or a ship, Adams would say.

I was beginning to agree with the djinn that being chosen by Aman was an unusual honor and I had no wish to respond to such distinction by being disobedient the first time he asked something of me.

Jewish physicians reached distinction under Christian as well as Arabian rulers at all times during the Middle Ages.

But criminals seemed to have conspired against Little Arcady, to cheat it of its rightful distinction.

The spores are derived from the endothecium, but no distinction of a sterile columella and an archesporium is established in this, a variable number of its cells becoming spore-mother-cells while the rest serve to nourish the spores.

It helped the Axumite kingdom and its Amharic successor to acquire the consciousness of an identity and a distinction from their neighbors which gave great staying power.

Bahaism as it is held by devout groups in America, so far as ethics and ideals go, from much that is distinctive in the Christian spirit, though the influence of Bahaism as a whole would be to efface distinctions and especially to take the force out of the Christian creeds.

The bishops held an honorable rank in their respective provinces, and were treated with distinction and respect, not only by the people, but by the magistrates themselves.

As far as I could understand the distinction, it was just like Bockwurst and Frankfurter: they have their special names, but they look and taste exactly the same.

Ray Douglas Bradbury shares with comedian Jack Benny the distinction of having been born in Waukegan, Illinois.

Precisely herein consists the fundamental distinction of the Christian from the Brahmanic doctrine of human destiny.