Search the Dictionary

visible sign; marked out; specified. [Obs.] Wherever thus created -- for no place Is yet distinct by name. Milton.

A marking off by visible signs; separation into parts; division. [Obs.] The distinction of tragedy into acts was not known. Dryden.

Marking or expressing distinction or difference; distinguishing; characteristic; peculiar. The distinctive character and institutions of New England. Bancroft.

With distinction; plainly.

State of being distinctive.

With distinctness; not confusedly; without the blending of one part or thing another; clearly; plainly; as, to see distinctly.

The quality or state of being distinct; a separation or difference that prevents confusion of parts or things. The soul's . . . distinctness from the body. Cudworth.

Distinctness. [R.]

Distinguished by opposite qualities. J. Goodwin.

Distinction by contrast. That there are such things as sins of infirmity in contradistinction to those of presumption is not to be questioned. South.

having the quality of contradistinction; distinguishing by contrast. -- Con`tra*dis*tinc"tive, n.

Not distinct or distinguishable; not separate in such a manner as to be perceptible by itself; as, the indistinct parts of a substance. "Indistinct as water is in water." Shak.

Indistinguishable. [Obs.] T. Warton.

Want of distinction or distinguishableness; confusion; uncertainty; indiscrimination. The indistinction of many of the same name . . . hath made some doubt. Sir T. Browne. An indistinction of all persons, or equality of all orders, is far from being agreeable to the will of God. Sprat.

Having nothing distinctive; common. -- In`dis*tinc"tive*ness, n.

In an indistinct manner; not clearly; confusedly; dimly; as, certain ideas are indistinctly comprehended. In its sides it was bounded distinctly, but on its ends confusedly an indistinctly. Sir I. Newton.

The quality or condition of being indistinct; want of definiteness; dimness; confusion; as, the indistinctness of a picture, or of comprehension; indistinctness of vision.

Making no distinctions; not discriminating; impartial. As undistinctive Death will come here one day. Dickens.

Indistinctly.

. Abecedarian psalms, hymns, etc., compositions in which (like the 119th psalm in Hebrew) distinct portions or verses commence with successive letters of the alphabet. Hook.