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Distinguish vs Between - What's the difference?

distinguish | between |

As a verb distinguish

is to see someone or something as different from others.

As a preposition between is

in the position or interval that separates (two things), or intermediate in quantity or degree (see the usage notes below).

As a noun between is

a kind of needle, shorter than a sharp, with a small rounded eye, used for making fine stitches on heavy fabrics.

distinguish

English

Verb

  • To see someone or something as different from others.
  • * {{quote-book, author=De Lacy O'Leary, title=, year=1922
  • , passage=It had begun to take a leading place even in the days of the Ptolemies, and in scientific, as distinguished from purely literary work, it had assumed a position of primary importance early in the Christian era.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
  • , author=(Jeremy Bernstein) , title=A Palette of Particles , volume=100, issue=2, page=146 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=The physics of elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.}}
  • To see someone or something clearly or distinctly.
  • To make oneself noticeably different or better from others through accomplishments.
  • * 1784 : William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c. , PREFACE
  • THE favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Per?ons of the fir?t di?tinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ?everal new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and di?tingui?h it from others; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.
  • (obsolete) To make to differ.
  • * Bible, 1 Cor. iv. 7 (Douay version)
  • Who distinguisheth thee?

    Usage notes

    In sense “see a difference”, more casual than differentiate or the formal discriminate; more casual is “tell the difference”.

    Synonyms

    (see a difference) differentiate, discriminate

    Derived terms

    * distinguished * distinguishable * distinguishness

    Antonyms

    * (to see someone or something as different from others) confuse

    between

    English

    Alternative forms

    * betweene (archaic) * betwene (archaic) * (abbreviation)

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • In the position or interval that separates (two things), or intermediate in quantity or degree. (See the Usage notes below.)
  • :
  • :
  • *
  • *:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between ; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame.}}
  • Done together or reciprocally.
  • :
  • *{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild
  • , title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=1 , passage=She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.}}
  • Shared in confidence.
  • :
  • In transit from (one to the other, or connecting places).
  • :
  • Combined (by effort or ownership).
  • :
  • :
  • One of (representing a choice).
  • :
  • :
  • Usage notes

    * Some groups of non-native speakers confuse between'' and ''among''. It is sometimes said that ''between'' usually applies to two things, while ''among'' applies to more than two things. This is not correct; according to the Oxford English Dictionary (quoted at http://eebweb.arizona.edu/faculty/chesson/between_and_among.htm) "In all senses, ''between'' has been, from its earliest appearance, extended to more than two. In OE. and ME. it was so extended in sense 1, in which ''among'' is now considered better. It is still the only word available to express the relation of a thing to many surrounding things severally and individually, ''among expressing a relation to them collectively and vaguely: we should not say ‘the space lying among the three points,’ or ‘a treaty among three powers,’ or ‘the choice lies among the three candidates in the select list,’ or ‘to insert a needle among the closed petals of a flower".

    Synonyms

    * atween (archaic) * atwix

    Derived terms

    * (between)

    See also

    * betwixt * among

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A kind of needle, shorter than a sharp, with a small rounded eye, used for making fine stitches on heavy fabrics.
  • Statistics

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