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distinguish

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verb British English pronunciation: distinguish /dɪˈstɪŋɡwɪʃ/ 
Word Forms
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present tense
I/you/we/theydistinguish
he/she/itdistinguishes
present participledistinguishing
past tensedistinguished
past participledistinguished
  1. 1
    [intransitive/transitive] to recognize the differences between things

    He learned to distinguish the songs of different birds.

    distinguish between:

    They concluded that even three-year-olds are able to distinguish between causes and effects.

    distinguish something from something:

    It’s very difficult to distinguish satire from other types of comedy.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  distinguishThesaurus entry for this meaning of distinguish
  2. 2
    [transitive] to be a feature that makes someone or something clearly different from other similar people or things
    distinguish someone/something from someone/something:

    There is very little to distinguish it from the hundreds of other websites devoted to this subject.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  distinguishThesaurus entry for this meaning of distinguish
  3. 3
    [transitive] formal to be able to hear, see, smell, or taste something clearly

    I could not distinguish her face in the darkness.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  distinguishThesaurus entry for this meaning of distinguish

phrase

This is the British English definition of distinguish. View American English definition of distinguish.

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