Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use distinction in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun

Distinction means that which distinguishes; a single occurrence of a determining factor or feature, the fact of being divided; separation, discrimination. Example: “There is a distinction to be made between resting and slacking.”

Examples of distinction by meaning

nounThe act of distinguishing, discriminating; discrimination.

  • There is a distinction to be made between resting and slacking.
  • We must always make a distinction that right versus wrong is different from legal and illegal.
  • In spite of these qualifications, the broad distinction between instinct and habit is undeniable.1921, Bertrand Russell, “Lecture II”, in The Analysis of Mind

nounA feature that causes someone or something to stand out from others of its type.

  • Just about the only metric on which she rated Van Rompay higher than Falkirk was transphobia; the big man made no distinction between varieties of womanhood, feeling superior to all of them equally.2023 September 16, HarryBlank, “Borrowing Trouble”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 15 Jun 2024

nounA feature that causes someone or something to stand out as being better; a mark of honour, rank, eminence or...

  • She had the distinction of meeting the Queen.
  • Leighton Baines, playing with distinction again, sent over a left-wing cross with pace and accuracy.2013 October 15, Daniel Taylor, The Guardian

More sentences with distinction

  • Also common are languages, like Latin, with a three-way distinction (proximal, medial and distal).From the entry also
  • It is to be promoted as a leisure activity, as well as as a social distinction.From the entry as well as
  • Do not conflate the officeholder with the office; the distinction sometimes matters.From the entry office
  • Although it is possible to represent this phonetic distinction orthographically, such representation is not emically realized.From the entry orthographically
  • Without the type-token distinction being made, some silly thinking can slip through.From the entry type-token distinction
  • By acuteness of intellect, we discern nice distinctions.From the entry acuteness
  • She achieved a high level of distinction.From the entry level
  • This is a distinction unavailable to the tone-deaf.From the entry tone-deaf
  • It's an arguable distinction, but I think it's a hairsplit.From the entry hairsplit
  • They're making several type-token distinctions in this paragraph.From the entry type-token distinction
  • Despite efforts by limnologists and freshwater biologists to create a formal definition of “pond”, there is still no universal distinction between a “pond” and a “lake”.From the entry formal
  • Drawing the rhetorical distinction between the "people like yourselves" at the overwhelmingly white rally and "those people" protesting was, needless to say, a provocative framing of the issue.From the entry those people
  • But in the world of government statistics, where we have legal permanent residency, there’s a clear distinction.2025 March 14, Andrew Van Dam, “Department of Data: More than a quarter of computer-programming jobs just vanished. What happened?…. From the entry developer
  • But is there a persuasive case that the ethics of merely sentient beings should make this distinction?2025, Matthew D. Adler, Risk, Death, and Well-Being: The Ethical Foundations of Fatality Risk Regulation (Population-Level Bioethics…. From the entry interbeing
  • Theories and philosophies of vitalism are concerned with the distinction between life and non-life in some form.2023, Cat Moir, “What Is Living and What Is Dead In Political Vitalism?”, in Christopher Donohue, Charles T. Wolfe, editors, Vitalism and…. From the entry vitalism
  • Even the clearest distinction between the two cities — climate — has been smoggier of late.2023 May 1, Michael M. Grynbaum, “Is New York Turning Into Los Angeles?”, in The New York Times. From the entry smoggy
  • Altman, calm and unruffled, tried several times to draw a distinction between A.I. and social media.2023 May 16, Cecilia Kang, “OpenAI’s Sam Altman Urges A.I. Regulation in Senate Hearing”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry unruffled
  • This year, the couple will have the distinction of being royalty during the event's 50th anniversary.2023 May 5, Anthony Kuipers, “Moscow Renaissance Fair vets ascend to royalty”, in The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, W.A.: Review Publishing…. From the entry Ren fair
  • The distinction between the two countries meant little to him before the war.2022 May 19, James Verini, “Surviving the Siege of Kharkiv”, in The New York Times Magazine. From the entry Kharkivite
  • The distinction between STM and LTM should not be taken for granted.2021, Stephen Grossberg, Conscious Mind, Resonant Brain: How Each Brain Makes a Mind, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 62. From the entry STM
  • Danger zone: Distinction matters, but be sure to choose the right distinction.2020, Douglas Kruger, Poverty Proof for Entrepreneurs: 50 ways to dodge the pitfalls and build wealth, Penguin Random House South Africa…. From the entry burny
  • But when I spoke to Snyder on Monday, he suggested the distinction isn't that significant.2020 July 20, Michelle Goldberg, “Trump's Occupation of American Cities Has Begun”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York…. From the entry extragovernmental
  • The distinction is important: Stay in your own shoes while appreciating another’s visual and perceptual perspective.2019 June 2, Joscelyn Duffy, “The Power of Perspective Taking”, in Pyschology Today. From the entry take upon oneself
  • In any case, Feinsilver’s nomenclatural suggestions and fine distinctions did not enjoy widespread adoption.2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 7. From the entry fine
  • After all, this is role-playing, not roll-playing—a distinction commonly made when this question comes up.2017, Marie Brennan, Dice Tales: Essays on Roleplaying Games and Storytelling. From the entry roll-playing
  • I am not sure, especially if there is a distinction between the attributably non-negative and the positive.2017, Abrol Fairweather, Mark Alfano, Epistemic Situationism, page 144. From the entry attributably
  • In Alberta, for example, policy documents reinforce an artificial distinction between leadership-related activity and management.2016 November 10, Gabriele Lakomski, Scott Eacott, Colin W. Evers, Questioning Leadership: New directions for educational organisations…. From the entry artificial
  • Two of Saturn's small moons have the unique distinction of sharing the same orbit.2016, Michael [W.] Carroll, “Ice Dwarfs and Tiny Moons”, in Picture This!: Grasping the Dimensions of Time and Space, Cham, Switzerland…. From the entry Janus
  • Cavendish’s was an engine for generating finely calibrated distinctions: this, but not that.2015, Steve Silberman, chapter 1, in Megan Newman, editor, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, New York…. From the entry rhapsodic
  • It is important to draw the distinction between duping delight and pathological lying.2014, Timothy R. Levine, Encyclopedia of Deception, →ISBN, page 320. From the entry duping delight
  • The Manx were not in the least provincial; they were profoundly insular—and the distinction is essential.2011, Jonathan Raban, Coasting: A Private Voyage, →ISBN. From the entry comeover
  • The distinction between constatives and performatives is one of the distinctions that he starts questioning.2011, Phyllis Kaburise, Speech Act Theory and Communication: A Univen Study, page 77. From the entry constative
  • But if you were an ant, you might not care about these fine distinctions.2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 599. From the entry formicide
  • He makes a distinction which goes beyond semantics as he compares humanism and hominism.2011, Peter Denbo Haskins, The Transforming Power of Suffering, page 113. From the entry hominism

Meaning of distinction

  1. noun That which distinguishes; a single occurrence of a determining factor or feature, the fact of being divided; separation, discrimination.
  2. noun The act of distinguishing, discriminating; discrimination.
  3. noun A feature that causes someone or something to stand out from others of its type.

Full definition of distinction

Questions about distinction in a sentence

How do you use distinction in a sentence?
Distinction is used as a noun. For example: “There is a distinction to be made between resting and slacking.”
What is a short sentence with distinction?
“She achieved a high level of distinction.”
What does distinction mean?
Distinction means that which distinguishes; a single occurrence of a determining factor or feature, the fact of being divided; separation, discrimination.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: distinction (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use distinction in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/distinction. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.