different between distinctive vs private

English

Etymology

From Latin distinctus, perfect passive participle of distinguere (“to push apart, to divide”), + -ive (forming adjectives signifying relation or tendency to). Cognate with French distinctif and Medieval Latin distinctivus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??st??kt?v/

Adjective

distinctive (comparative more distinctive, superlative most distinctive)

1. Distinguishing, used to or enabling the distinguishing of some thing.
   • 1583, Philip Stubbes, The Anatomie of Abuses, Fol. V:

     Our Apparell was giuen vs as a signe distinctiue to discern betwixt sex and sex.

   a product in distinctive packaging

2. (rare) Discriminating, discerning, having the ability to distinguish between things.
   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Vol. II, Ch. iii, p. 75:

     ...more judicious and distinctive heads...

3. Characteristic, typical.
   • 1856, John Ruskin, Modern Painters, Vol. III, p. 293:

     Wordsworth's distinctive work was a war with pomp and pretence, and a display of the majesty of simple feelings and humble hearts.

   his distinctive bass voice

4. (rare) Distinguished, being distinct in character or position.
   • 1867, Samuel Smiles, The Huguenots, Ch. xvii, p. 432:

     The refugees... at length ceased to exist as a distinctive body among the people.

5. (Hebrew grammar, of accents) Used to separate clauses in place of stops.
   • 1874, Andrew Bruce Davidson, Introductory Hebrew Grammar, p. 27:

     These are the main distinctive accents, and by stopping at them... the reader will do justice to the sense.

6. (linguistics, of sounds) Distinguishing a particular sense of word.
   • 1927, L. Bloomfield & al., Language, No. 3, p. 129:

     Normally we symbolize only phonemes (distinctive features) so far as we can determine them.

Derived terms

• distinctive feature

Related terms

Translations

Noun

distinctive (plural distinctives)

1. A distinctive thing: a quality or property permitting distinguishing; a characteristic.
   • 1816, Maurice Keatinge, Travels through France and Spain to Morocco, Vol. I, p. 189:

     ...the red umbrella, the distinctive of royalty here...

2. (Hebrew grammar) A distinctive accent.
   • 1874, Andrew Bruce Davidson, Introductory Hebrew Grammar, p. 27:

     A distinctive of less power than Zakeph is ?iph?â.

3. (theology) A distinctive belief, tenet, or dogma of a denomination or sect.
   • 1979, Theron F. Schlabach, "Gospel versus Gospel" in Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History, p. 154:

     Mennonites could go forth somewhat detached from the chauvinism of Western culture—but not so from the Mennonite distinctives.

References

• “distinctive”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1896
• distinctive in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• distinctive in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dis.t??k.tiv/
• Homophone: distinctives

Adjective

distinctive

1. feminine singular of distinctif

English

Etymology

From Latin pr?v?tus (“bereaved, deprived, set apart from”), perfect passive participle of pr?v? (“I bereave, deprive”), from pr?vus (“private, one's own, peculiar”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per; compare prime, prior, pristine.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?a?v?t/, /?p?a?v?t/
• Hyphenation: pri?vate

Adjective

private (comparative more private, superlative most private)

1. Belonging to, concerning, or accessible only to an individual person or a specific group.
2. Not accessible by the public.

3. Not in governmental office or employment.
4. Not publicly known; not open; secret.
5. Protected from view or disturbance by others; secluded.

6. Not traded by the public.
7. Secretive; reserved.

8. (US, of a room in a medical facility) Not shared with another patient.
9. (not comparable, object-oriented programming) Accessible only to the class itself or instances of it, and not to other classes or even subclasses.

Synonyms

• (done in the view of others): secluded
• (intended only for one's own use): personal
• (not accessible by the public):
• (not publicly known): secret

Antonyms

• public

Hyponyms

• package-private

Translations

Noun

private (plural privates)

1. A soldier of the lowest rank in the army.
2. A doctor working in privately rather than publicly funded health care.
   • 1973, Health/PAC Bulletin (issues 48-67, page 2)

     In the cities and towns of California, privates are pressuring county governments to close or reduce in size their hospitals and to pay private hospitals for the care of low-income patients. Thus everything is stacked against public hospitals.

   • 1993, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Affairs, The implementation of employer sanctions: Hearings

     Because you are already moving people with the limitations of what we did in 1982 on the capping of Medicare, you are finding out that the privates are picking up that slack, […]

3. (euphemistic, in the plural) The genitals.
4. (obsolete) A secret message; a personal unofficial communication.
5. (obsolete) Personal interest; particular business.

   • Nor must I be unmindful of my private.

6. (obsolete) Privacy; retirement.
7. (obsolete) One not invested with a public office.
8. (usually in the plural) A private lesson.

Synonyms

• (genitals): bits, private parts

Translations

Derived terms

References

• private at OneLook Dictionary Search
• private in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• "private" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 242.
• private in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Esperanto

Etymology

From privata (“private”) +? -e (adverbial ending).

Adverb

private

1. privately

German

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a?t?

Adjective

private

1. inflection of privat:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Adjective

private

1. feminine plural of privato

Verb

private

1. feminine plural past participle of privare
2. second-person plural indicative present of privare
3. second-person plural imperative of privare

Anagrams

• prative

Latin

Verb

pr?v?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of pr?v?

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

private

1. definite singular of privat
2. plural of privat

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

private

1. definite singular of privat
2. plural of privat

Swedish

Adjective

private

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of privat.