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# distinguish

«distinguish» in Mova's school dictionary: **To see or understand the difference between two or more…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

verb (distinguish, distinguishes, distinguished, distinguishing)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To see or understand the difference between two or more things: «distinguish between right and wrong». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distinguish/#m1)

2) To be able to see, hear or notice something clearly: «I could just distinguish a shape.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distinguish/#m2)

3) To be the thing that makes someone or something different: «Its long neck distinguishes the giraffe.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distinguish/#m3)

4) «Distinguish yourself» means do something very well so people notice and respect you. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distinguish/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In science, pupils distinguish between living and non-living things, or between mammals and reptiles. In reading, they distinguish fact from opinion. In safety lessons, they distinguish safe from unsafe situations, and real messages from scams. Phrases: «distinguish between», «distinguish A from B», «distinguishing features», «distinguish yourself».

### examples

- Can you distinguish between a frog and a toad? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distinguish/#x1)
- It was too dark to distinguish the path. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distinguish/#x2)
- Learn to distinguish fact from opinion. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distinguish/#x3)
- Its black and white fur distinguishes the panda from other bears. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distinguish/#x4)
- She distinguished herself by winning every race. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distinguish/#x5)
- The twins are so alike it's hard to distinguish them. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distinguish/#x6)
- A scam email can be hard to distinguish from a real one. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distinguish/#x7)
- ‘How am I to distinguish this awful thing when I see it?’ [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distinguish/#x8)

### note

Patterns: «distinguish between A and B» or «distinguish A from B». Adjective: «distinguished» (famous and respected; also looking grand). «Distinguishing features» are marks that help identify someone.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «distinguish» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distinguish/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.