Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use distinctive in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun

Distinctive means distinguishing, used to or enabling the distinguishing of some thing. Example: “Every wine has a certain distinctive character which sets it apart from all others.”

Examples of distinctive by meaning

adjectiveDistinguishing, used to or enabling the distinguishing of some thing.

  • a product in distinctive packaging

adjectiveCharacteristic, typical.

  • his distinctive bass voice

adjectiveDistinguishing a particular sense of word.

  • Normally we symbolize only phonemes (distinctive features) so far as we can determine them.1927, L. Bloomfield et al., Language, number 3, page 129

nounA distinctive belief, tenet, or dogma of a denomination or sect.

  • Mennonites could go forth somewhat detached from the chauvinism of Western culture—but not so from the Mennonite distinctives.1979, Theron F. Schlabach, “Gospel versus Gospel”, in Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History, page 154

More sentences with distinctive

  • Every wine has a certain distinctive character which sets it apart from all others.From the entry certain
  • The capitalisation of all nouns is a distinctive feature of German.From the entry capitalisation
  • These bone features, distinctive in the zebra, are actually present in all horses.From the entry horse
  • That sound is the distinctive call of the cuckoo bird.From the entry call
  • The detective identified him by a distinctive birthmark.From the entry birthmark
  • The scrum is a distinctive element of rugby.From the entry rugby
  • The Ancient Egyptian culture had many distinctive and interesting beliefs and customs; one custom was the mummification of the dead.From the entry custom
  • Figured wood is especially sought after for its distinctive texture.From the entry figured
  • The calico cat had distinctive red and dark markings.From the entry calico
  • Dutch Licorice Salmiak Rocks are classic Dutch sweets with a distinctive salty and tangy flavour.2024, “Dutch Licorice Salmiak Rocks”, in Lolly Shop. From the entry salmiak
  • Blood on the berries―red on red―but to you, a tetrachromat, the two reds are distinctive.2022, Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Vintage (2023), page 340. From the entry tetrachromat
  • Goat cheese, also known as chèvre, has a distinctive tart and tangy flavor.2021, Barbara Scott-Goodman, Wine Time: 70+ Recipes for Simple Bites That Pair Perfectly with Wine, San Francisco, Calif.: Chronicle…. From the entry chèvre
  • The oysters from each farm were distinctive—brinier, sweeter, meatier, creamier, slightly metallic at the finish.2021 March, Barbara Ross, chapter 3, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), New York, N.Y.: Kensington Publishing Corp.…. From the entry briny
  • Long, slow cooking liberates the quince's enchanting flavour as well as those distinctive, deep-rose hues.2019, Pam Corbin, Pam the Jam: The Book of Preserves, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN. From the entry quince cheese
  • Officially dubbed as “Atomic Tangerine” the home’s distinctive facade is one part quirky to nine parts endearing.2019 July 10, Miriam Schwartz, “Cambridge home a tangerine dream”, in The Boston Herald. From the entry atomic tangerine
  • At Iwamadera, the Nio, a distinctive ebony and shiny as lacquer, enhanced their ferocious, don't-mess-with-me muscular stance.2018, Joan D. Stamm, A Pilgrimage in Japan, page 114. From the entry nio
  • Pili—pronounced “peeley”—is a distinctive, tear-shaped nut native to Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands.2017 July 13, Claudia McNeilly, “Pili—The Delicious, Healthy Nut You’ve Never Heard Of”, in Vogue. From the entry pili
  • Matrescence as a distinctive marker of birth centre care is all about fostering the 'becoming mother' journey.2017, Denis Walsh, Sheila Kitzinger, Norman Ellis, Improving Maternity Services: The Epidemiologically Based Needs Assessment Reviews, Vol…. From the entry matrescence
  • Japan, however, has developed the distinctive cycling subculture of Keirin racing.2016, Glen Norcliffe, Critical Geographies of Cycling: History, Political Economy and Culture, Routledge, →ISBN. From the entry keirin
  • Now let's peek into the astroscope of this intriguing musical man with the distinctive voice.2015, Henry Holloway, Swing, Sing and All That Jazz. From the entry astroscope
  • Ammocrypta is the smallest genus of darters and in many respects is the most distinctive.2015, Robert A. Kuehne, The American Darters, page 25. From the entry sand darter
  • Probably the province’s most distinctive minority, they never accepted Vienna’s occupation of their country.2013, Paul Ham, “Meanwhile, in Bosnia-Herzegovina”, in 1914: The Year the World Ended, North Sydney, N.S.W.: William Heinemann, →ISBN…. From the entry Bosnia-Herzegovinian
  • The façade and interior are covered entirely in İznik tiles arrayed in a distinctive circular pattern.2012, Turkey (Berlitz Pocket Guides), Apa Publications, →ISBN. From the entry İznik
  • Perhaps the most distinctive is the barchan dune, an isolated crescentic form with arms that stretch downwind.2010, Robert S[tewart] Anderson, Suzanne P[restrud] Anderson, “Eolian Forms and Deposits”, in Geomorphology: The Mechanics and Chemistry…. From the entry barchan
  • LBMs lack truly distinctive features that set them apart from the crowd, just like most Psilocybe mushrooms.2010, Greg A. Marley, Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares: The Love, Lore, and Mystique of Mushrooms, page 177. From the entry lbm
  • 'Could you take a message for him, please?' he said in Trevor Dann's distinctive Midlands tones.2010, Lucian Randall, Disgusting Bliss: The Brass Eye of Chris Morris, →ISBN. From the entry sloppery
  • This project focuses on documenting the distinctive, defining aspects of Edinboro's earthscape.2008, Joseph F. Reese, “Earthscape Edinboro: An Earth Systems Based Educational Model to Connect Locals with Their Locale”, in 2008 Joint…. From the entry earthscape
  • Wiktionary is a multilingual dictionary (also thesaurus and phrase-book) and has distinctive content policies.2008, Phoebe Ayers, Charles Matthews, Ben Yates, “Wikimedia Commons and Other Sister Projects”, in How Wikipedia Works: And How You Can Be…. From the entry wiktionary
  • Compare the most distinctive feature of English renderings of the English of Welsh speakers.2007 winter, Jonathan Pritchard, “Swift’s Irish Rhymes”, in Studies in Philology, volume 104, number 1, University of North Carolina…. From the entry Cambrophone
  • These three bronzes, though clearly modeled on Zhou types, are quite distinctive from the Zhou tradition.2006, Li Feng, Landscape and Power in Early China, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, pages 330–331. From the entry e
  • Consumers are willing to pay top dollar for distinctive, rare, traditional cheeses.2006 December 6, “Many ways to say cheese”, in Toronto Star, page F2. From the entry top dollar
  • Some accents reveal the distinctive bray of the upper crust, but most are generic middle class.2006 June 18, J. F. O. McAllister, “A New Kind of Elite”, in Time. From the entry upper crust
  • In addition, some methanotrophs, such as the species of Methylococcus and Methylocaldum, lack distinctive fatty acid biomarkers.2006, John Bowman, “Chapter 3.1.14: The Methanotrophs-The Families Methylococcaceae and Methylocystaceae”, in Stanley Falkow, Eugene…. From the entry methanotroph
  • Love styles are distinctive characteristics or personalities that loving or lovelike relationships may take.2006, Mary Ann Lamanna, Agnes Czerwinski Riedmann, Agnes Riedmann, Marriages and families, page 117. From the entry lovelike
  • He explores the social and political dimensions of the spaghettis as well as their distinctive cinematicity.2006, Christopher Frayling, Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone. From the entry cinematicity
  • No, I'm not alking about the drugs—I think it was the distinctive smell of bozone.2005 February 10, Jim Burnett, “Crime Still Doesnt Pay”, in Hey Ranger!: True Tales of Humor and Misadventure from America's National…. From the entry bozone

Meaning of distinctive

  1. adjective Distinguishing, used to or enabling the distinguishing of some thing.
  2. adjective Discriminating, discerning, having the ability to distinguish between things.
  3. adjective Characteristic, typical.

Full definition of distinctive

Questions about distinctive in a sentence

How do you use distinctive in a sentence?
Distinctive is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “Every wine has a certain distinctive character which sets it apart from all others.”
What is a short sentence with distinctive?
“his distinctive bass voice”
What does distinctive mean?
Distinctive means distinguishing, used to or enabling the distinguishing of some thing.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: distinctive (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.

Last updated:

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