distinctive

[ dih-stingk-tiv ]
/ dɪˈstɪŋk tɪv /

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

Example sentences from the Web for distinctively

British Dictionary definitions for distinctively

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