different between contradistinguish vs contradistinction

English

Etymology

contra- +? distinguish

Verb

contradistinguish (third-person singular simple present contradistinguishes, present participle contradistinguishing, simple past and past participle contradistinguished)

1. (transitive) To distinguish things by contrasting their different qualities.

Related terms

• contradistinction

Translations

English

Etymology

contra- +? distinction

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?k?nt??d??st??k?n?/
• Hyphenation: con?tra?dis?tinc?tion

Noun

contradistinction (plural contradistinctions)

1. Distinction by contrast; the provision of one example against which another example may be defined.
   • 1911, Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

     Pantheism n

     The doctrine that everything is God, in contradistinction to the doctrine that God is everything.

   • 1944, Clifford W. Ashley, The Ashley Book of Knots, page 220:

     Captain John Smith gives the name Reef Knot in 1627. Dana gives the name Square Knot in 1841. Few sailors speak of Square Knot except in contradistinction to Granny Knot but it is the common shore name for the knot and is in good repute among sailors.
2. The quality of being contradistinctive.

Usage notes

• Found normally in the phrase in contradistinction to, contradistinction focuses on the contrasting attributes of two similar concepts and may be more emphatic than distinction.

Derived terms

• contradistinctive
• contradistinctively

Related terms

• contradistinguish

Translations

Further reading

• contradistinction in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• contradistinction in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• contradistinction at OneLook Dictionary Search