How to Use distinguish in a Sentence

distinguish

verb
  • The singer's voice is what distinguishes the band.
  • The only thing that distinguishes the dogs is their bark.
  • You can't distinguish the detail from this distance.
  • I have trouble distinguishing between the two of them.
  • You should be able to distinguish fact from fantasy.
  • I have trouble distinguishing the difference between the two of them.
  • You're old enough to distinguish between fact and fantasy.
  • As far as ghost stories go, the Lady in Blue has helped distinguish the Seelbach.
    The Courier-Journal, 18 Oct. 2022
  • And the overall message holds true: Being able to distinguish between true fear and unwarranted fear can be lifesaving.
    Hope Corrigan, Washington Post, 5 Oct. 2022
  • Photograph by Paola + Murray While the food and wine are distinguished, so too is the region’s ambience.
    The Bon Appétit Staff & Contributors, Bon Appétit, 7 Oct. 2024
  • But in the city that invented a literary and film genre—noir—to describe real estate’s political influence, scandal is hard to distinguish from the everyday.
    Tracy Rosenthal, The New Republic, 19 Oct. 2022
  • While Anniston’s black numbers on dark maroon jerseys made players hard to distinguish, that’s not the cause for the award to collectively go to the Bulldogs’ defense.
    al, 1 Oct. 2022
  • The key to distinguishing the two can be found in the small print.
    Marnie Old, Philly.com, 2 July 2018
  • The gender of the mummies can be distinguished by the shape of their hands.
    NBC News, 19 Oct. 2019
  • The days passed without much to distinguish one from the next.
    Tove Ditlevsen, The New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2021
  • The zoo has used a dye to distinguish them for the last 30 years, Shearer said.
    Kate Perez, USA TODAY, 14 June 2023
  • Part of the goal of the rebrand was to distinguish the beers from each other.
    Esther Mobley, SFChronicle.com, 25 Jan. 2021
  • The large size has the iconic slide rule that has distinguished the brand since 1953.
    Carol Besler, Robb Report, 7 Sep. 2023
  • Look for signs to distinguish one group from the other.
    Natalie B. Compton, Anchorage Daily News, 10 Mar. 2023
  • So the drones could be programmed to distinguish a dog poo from, say, a rock?
    Jeremy White, Wired, 31 May 2021
  • The black smaller eye would not be able to distinguish shapes because of the sun’s light.
    Swapna Krishna, Smithsonian, 13 Feb. 2017
  • Most of these young people are savvy enough to read between the lines and distinguish the truth from the fluff.
    Meimei Fox, Forbes, 26 Oct. 2021
  • Was that your team trying to find ways to distinguish you?
    Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar. 2022
  • The new Amels 200 is the fourth hull in the series and is once again distinguished by a few custom touches.
    Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 3 Nov. 2023
  • Of course, Tom Brady is hot, too, with a few distinguishing marks of his own.
    Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY, 27 Jan. 2018
  • Apart from more power, the RS gets some styling changes to help distinguish it from the lesser trims.
    Jack Fitzgerald, Car and Driver, 17 Nov. 2022
  • Howell is quick to distinguish a putting course from a putting green.
    Georgann Yara, The Arizona Republic, 19 Nov. 2021
  • This prompted me to grow up very fast and to distinguish myself.
    Marc Myers, WSJ, 1 Mar. 2022
  • Rousseau distinguished two forms of self-love, amour de soi and amour-propre.
    Anthony Gottlieb, New York Times, 21 June 2018
  • The collection, meanwhile, has been divided into distinct bands, with materials to distinguish each continent.
    Sam Cochran, Architectural Digest, 10 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'distinguish.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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