distinctive

[ dih-stingk-tiv ]
/ dɪˈstɪŋk tɪv /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR distinctive ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

serving to distinguish; characteristic; distinguishing: the distinctive stripes of the zebra.
having a special quality, style, attractiveness, etc.; notable.

Origin of distinctive

1575–85; < Medieval Latin distinctīvus, equivalent to Latin distinct(us) distinct + -īvus -ive

OTHER WORDS FROM distinctive

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH distinctive

distinctive distinguishable distinguished

Words nearby distinctive

distillers' grain, distillery, distillment, distinct, distinction, distinctive, distinctive feature, distinctiveness ratio, distinctly, distinguish, distinguished

Words related to distinctive

singular, peculiar, offbeat, extraordinary, special, weird, original, idiosyncratic, cool, characteristic, diagnostic, discrete, distinguishing, excellent, gnarly, individual, outstanding, perfect, proper, separate

Example sentences from the Web for distinctive

British Dictionary definitions for distinctive

distinctive
/ (dɪˈstɪŋktɪv) /

adjective

serving or tending to distinguish
denoting one of a set of minimal features of a phoneme in a given language that serve to distinguish it from other phonemes. The distinctive features of /p/ in English are that it is voiceless, bilabial, non-nasal, and plosive; /b/ is voiced, bilabial, non-nasal, and plosive: the two differ by the distinctive feature of voice

Derived forms of distinctive

distinctively, adverb distinctiveness, noun