1
as in to differentiate
to understand or point out the difference in even at such a young age, he could distinguish the calls of various birds

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2
as in to characterize
to be an important feature of a collection of recipes distinguished by their ease and simplicity

Synonyms & Similar Words

3
4
5

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of distinguish Israel's military offensive killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants. CBS News, 22 Feb. 2025 Israel’s military offensive killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. Wafaa Shurafa, TIME, 22 Feb. 2025 But defining and distinguishing between what is and isn’t important does. Pia Lauritzen, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2025 Bensinger immediately distinguished himself as a reformer, implementing innovative approaches to rehabilitation and prisoners’ rights. Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune, 21 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for distinguish
Recent Examples of Synonyms for distinguish
Verb
  • Structure and Ownership: Estimations may differentiate between single-family offices (SFOs), which serve one family, and multi-family offices (MFOs), which serve multiple families.
    Francois Botha, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2025
  • Does your insurance differentiate between visits to urgent care or ER?
    Katia Hetter, CNN, 1 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Another type of hyperpigmentation that kojic acid can help with is melasma—a stubborn and hard-to-treat skin condition characterized by splotchy, brown or grayish patches.
    Jenna Ryu, SELF, 4 Mar. 2025
  • Security Modern SaaS applications follow a development process characterized by frequent releases as new features and iterations become available.
    Ben Verghese, Forbes, 4 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Have persistent weeds identified to determine the best control.
    Tom MacCubbin, Orlando Sentinel, 1 Mar. 2025
  • Police said detectives worked intensively to identify the two women involved in the incident and issued arrest warrants for the two on Wednesday.
    Rick Hurd, The Mercury News, 1 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Over time, Fineman noticed that Peach was growing more lethargic, agitated, and itchy, which interrupted the peace of his beloved routine.
    Colson Thayer, People.com, 7 Mar. 2025
  • The outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas keeps a tally of layoff notices.
    Brittney Melton, NPR, 7 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Despite the depth and breadth of his transactions, Sweeney did not classify his work as a teardown.
    Fluto Shinzawa, The Athletic, 8 Mar. 2025
  • Using data from nearly 10,000 herbarium specimens, scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History have brought attention to the conservation status of these plants, revealing that 87 species—almost half of the genus—are now classified as threatened with extinction.
    Ella Jeffries, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • According to a police report, Justin Pfeifer texted his friend Marshall about six weeks before that, trying to discern the make of Mulligan’s car.
    Kyle Newman, The Denver Post, 2 Mar. 2025
  • And scientists will be able to discern these ice spectra with unprecedented clarity thanks to SPHEREx’s observations.
    Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 28 Feb. 2025
Verb
  • Past federal audits also found that the team failed to comply with some IT regulations.
    Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 2 Mar. 2025
  • In several respects, the survey found that Sacramento adults were less religious than Americans as a whole.
    Phillip Reese, Sacramento Bee, 2 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Hearn was also seen shoving rival promoter Ben Shalom as chaos reigned on stage.
    Ben Church, CNN, 26 Feb. 2025
  • The trailer above, which dropped on Wednesday, introduces you to the new couples fighting to see if their love can withstand temptation and drama, but there’s a catch.
    Gabriela Silva, TVLine, 26 Feb. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Distinguish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/distinguish. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on distinguish

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!