Distinguish vs Guess - What's the difference?
distinguish | guess | Related terms |
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)
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. ,
(obsolete) To make to differ.
* Bible, 1 Cor. iv. 7 (Douay version)
To reach a partly (or totally) unqualified conclusion.
To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly.
(chiefly, US) to suppose (introducing a proposition of uncertain plausibility).
* Shakespeare
* Alexander Pope
*
(obsolete) To hit upon or reproduce by memory.
* Shakespeare
A prediction about the outcome of something, typically made without factual evidence or support.
*
Distinguish is a related term of guess.
In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between distinguish and guess
is that distinguish is (obsolete) to make to differ while guess is (obsolete) to hit upon or reproduce by memory.As verbs the difference between distinguish and guess
is that distinguish is to see someone or something as different from others while guess is to reach a partly (or totally) unqualified conclusion.As a noun guess is
a prediction about the outcome of something, typically made without factual evidence or support.distinguish
English
Verb
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.}}
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.
- 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, discriminateDerived terms
* distinguished * distinguishable * distinguishnessAntonyms
* (to see someone or something as different from others) confuseExternal links
* *guess
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) . More at (l).Verb
- He who guesses the riddle shall have the ring.
- That album is quite hard to find, but I guess you could try ordering it online.
- Not all together; better far, I guess , / That we do make our entrance several ways.
- But in known images of life I guess / The labour greater.
- Tell me their words, as near as thou canst guess them.
Synonyms
* hypothesize * take a stab * speculateDerived terms
* foreguess * guess what * guessable * guesser * guessing game * guesstimate * guesswork * keep someone guessing * no prize for guessing * out-guess * second-guess * you'll never guessEtymology 2
From (etyl) gesse. Cognate with (etyl) .Noun
(es)- If you don't know the answer, take a guess .