Word.ws English Dictionary

distinguishes

distinguishes is the third-person singular simple present indicative of distinguish.

Meaning of distinguish

Verb

distinguish (third-person singular simple present distinguishes, present participle distinguishing, simple past and past participle distinguished)

  1. To recognize someone or something as different from others based on its characteristics.
    • It had begun to take a leading place even in the days of the Ptolemies, and in scientific, as distinguished from purely literary work, it had assumed a position of primary importance early in the Christian era.1922, De Lacy O'Leary, Arabic Thought and Its Place in History
    Antonyms:
    confuse
  2. To see someone or something clearly or distinctly.
    Synonyms:
    discern, make out
  3. (reflexive, transitive) To make noticeably different or better from others through accomplishments.
    • The soldier distinguished himself in combat and received a medal.
  4. To confer an honor upon.
    • The soldier was distinguished with a medal for his bravery.
  5. (obsolete, transitive) To make to differ.
    • For who diſtinguiſheth thee?1749, The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. […] Newly reviſed, and corrected according to the Clementin Edition of the Scriptures (Douay–Rheims Bible, Challoner Revision), 1...

Questions about distinguishes

What is distinguishes the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Distinguishes is the third-person singular simple present indicative of distinguish.

Words near distinguishes in the dictionary

  1. distinguished professors
  2. distinguishedly
  3. distinguishedness
  4. distinguisher
  5. distinguishers
  6. distinguishes
  7. distinguishest
  8. distinguisheth
  9. distinguishing
  10. distinguishingly
  11. distinguishings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: distinguishes (page history and authors); distinguish (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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