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Distinguish vs Suppose - What's the difference?

distinguish | suppose | Related terms |

As verbs the difference between distinguish and suppose

is that distinguish is to see someone or something as different from others while suppose is to take for granted; to conclude, with less than absolute supporting data; to believe.

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

    suppose

    English

    Verb

    (suppos)
  • To take for granted; to conclude, with less than absolute supporting data; to believe.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=15 citation , passage=‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’}}
  • To theorize or hypothesize.
  • * , chapter=5
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose .}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-09-06, author= David Cox
  • , volume=189, issue=13, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Celebrity rules even Hawking's universe , passage=Just what is supposed to be wrong with the pursuit of fame is not always made clear. Plato disapproved of competition for praise on the grounds that it would tempt the great to bend to the will of the crowd. It is hard to argue with that, and social degradation remains a fear.}}
  • To imagine; to believe; to receive as true.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
  • * (Bible), 2 (w) xiii. 32
  • Let not my lord suppose that they have slain all the young men, the king's sons; for Amnon only is dead.
  • *
  • As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish,I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with gentlemen in private life.
  • To require to exist or to be true; to imply by the laws of thought or of nature.
  • Purpose supposes foresight.
  • * 1752 , (Charlotte Lennox), (The Female Quixote)
  • One falsehood always supposes another, and renders all you can say suspected.
  • To put by fraud in the place of another.
  • Synonyms

    * assume (1,2) * See also

    Derived terms

    * supposable * supposed to (idiom) * supposedly

    Statistics

    * English reporting verbs ----