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?

Verb

(decid)

To resolve (a contest, problem, dispute, etc.); to choose, determine, or settle.

The election will be decided on foreign policies.

We must decide our next move.

Her last-minute goal decided the game.

* Shakespeare

The quarrel toucheth none but us alone; / Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then.

To make a judgment, especially after deliberation.

You must decide between good and evil.

I have decided that it is healthier to walk to work.

* Bible, 1 Kings xx. 40

So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.

To cause someone to come to a decision.

* 1920 , , "The Adventure of the Three Gables" (Norton edition, 2005, p. 1537),

It decides me to look into the matter, for if it is worth anyone's while to take so much trouble, there must be something in it.

(obsolete) To cut off; to separate.

* Fuller

Our seat denies us traffic here; / The sea, too near, decides us from the rest.