Standard Lemma guide

distinctiveness

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /dɪsˈtɪŋ(k)tɪvnɪs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: D IH0 S T IH1 NG K T IH0 V N AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The quality of being distinctive, individual or discrete.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: unicity, uniquity, distinctiveness, onlyhood, onliness, uniqueness

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Something which distinguishes something from anything else.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: designation, distinction, attribute, characteristic, distinctiveness, feature, hallmark, owndom, parameter, property, propriety, quality, race, trait, touch, whatness

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

utter dissimilarity

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: disparateness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: dissimilarity, unsimilarity

4

noun

Meaning 4

a distinguishing trait

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: peculiarity, specialness, specialty, speciality

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: individuality, individualism, individuation

Narrower terms: idiosyncrasy, foible, mannerism

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English distinctive Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh2yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h2ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English distinctiveness From distinctive + -ness.

Real reading context

distinctiveness in complete knowledge articles