Distinction, distinct or distinctive may refer to: *

Distinction (philosophy) Distinction, the fundamental philosophical abstraction, involves the recognition of difference. In classical philosophy, there were various ways in which things could be distinguished. The merely logical or virtual distinction, such as the differ ...

, the recognition of difference *

Formal distinction In scholastic metaphysics, a formal distinction is a distinction intermediate between what is merely conceptual, and what is fully real or mind-independent--a logical distinction. It was made by some realist philosophers of the Scholasticism, Sc ...

Distinction (law) ''Distinction'' is a principle under international humanitarian law governing the laws of war, legal use of force in an armed conflict, whereby belligerents must distinguish between combatants and noncombatants (civilians). Combatant in this instanc ...

, a principle in international law governing the legal use of force in an armed conflict *

Distinction (sociology) In sociology, distinction is a social force whereby people use various strategies—consciously or not—to differentiate and distance themselves from others in society, and to assign themselves greater value in the process. In '' Distinction: A S ...

, a social force that places different values on different individuals *

Distinct (mathematics) In mathematics, equality is a relationship between two quantities or, more generally two mathematical expressions, asserting that the quantities have the same value, or that the expressions represent the same mathematical object. The equality be ...

Distinctive feature In linguistics, a distinctive feature is the most basic unit of phonological structure that distinguishes one sound from another within a language. For example, the feature oicedistinguishes the two bilabial plosives: and There are many diffe ...

, a concept in linguistics * ''Distinción'', in Spanish, separating consonantal sounds, see

Phonological history of Spanish coronal fricatives In Spanish dialectology, the realization of coronal fricatives is one of the most prominent features distinguishing various dialect regions. The main three realizations are the phonemic distinction between and ('), the presence of only alveo ...

* The

Hua–Yi distinction The distinction between ''Huá'' and ''Yí'' ( zh, t=, p=Huá Yí zhī biàn), also known as Sino–barbarian dichotomy, is a historical Chinese concept that differentiated a culturally defined "China" (called Huá, Huaxia , or Xià ) from cultur ...

, the difference between ''China'' (Hua) and barbarian outsiders (Yi), applied culturally and ethnically * ''

Distinction (book) ''Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste'' (''La Distinction: Critique sociale du jugement'', 1979) by Pierre Bourdieu, is a sociological report about the state of French culture, based upon the author's empirical research from ...

'', a book by Pierre Bourdieu *

Distinction (horse) Distinction, distinct or distinctive may refer to: * Distinction (philosophy), the recognition of difference * Formal distinction * Distinction (law), a principle in international law governing the legal use of force in an armed conflict * Distin ...

, Irish gelding, third in the 2005 Melbourne Cup *

Distinction (song) Distinction, distinct or distinctive may refer to: * Distinction (philosophy), the recognition of difference * Formal distinction * Distinction (law), a principle in international law governing the legal use of force in an armed conflict * Distin ...

, song and album by

The Suffrajets The Suffrajets were a British all girl four-piece rock band formed by Alex Gillings and Gemma Clarke. The last line-up was Alex Gillings (rhythm guitar), Gemma Clarke (drums), Claire Wakeman (lead guitar, vocals) and Lulu Small ( bass). The ba ...

Awards and honors

* an

Award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...

or quality of an award recipient *

Latin honors Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

, indications of relative achievement among academic degree recipients * Any one of the

Nine Distinctions The nine bestowments () were awards given by Chinese emperors to officials, ostensibly to reward them for their accomplishments. While the nature of the bestowments was probably established during the Zhou Dynasty, there was no record of anyone r ...

, awarded by the Chinese emperor *

Order of Distinction The Order of Distinction is a national order in the Jamaican honours system. It is the sixth in order of precedence of the Orders of Societies of Honour, which were instituted by an Act of Parliament (''The National Honours and Awards Act'') i ...

, award in the Jamaican school honours system * in

Austrian Bundesheer The Austrian Armed Forces (german: Bundesheer, lit=Federal Army) are the combined military forces of the Republic of Austria. The military consists of 22,050 active-duty personnel and 125,600 reservists. The military budget is 0.74% of natio ...

German Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

and

Norwegian Army The Norwegian Army ( no, Hæren) is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway ...

synonym for ''rank insignia''

Awards and honors

See also