different between feature vs distinction

English

Etymology

From Middle English feture, from Anglo-Norman feture, from Old French faiture, from Latin fact?ra. Doublet of facture.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?fi?t??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?fit??/
• Rhymes: -i?t??(?)

Noun

feature (plural features)

1. (obsolete) One's structure or make-up: form, shape, bodily proportions.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.ii:

     all the powres of nature, / Which she by art could vse vnto her will, / And to her seruice bind each liuing creature; / Through secret vnderstanding of their feature.

2. An important or main item.
3. (media) A long, prominent article or item in the media, or the department that creates them; frequently used technically to distinguish content from news.
   1. (film) Ellipsis of feature film
4. Any of the physical constituents of the face (eyes, nose, etc.).
5. (computing) A beneficial capability of a piece of software.
6. The cast or structure of anything, or of any part of a thing, as of a landscape, a picture, a treaty, or an essay; any marked peculiarity or characteristic.
7. (archaeology) Something discerned from physical evidence that helps define, identify, characterize, and interpret an archeological site.

   • A feature of many Central Texas prehistoric archeological sites is a low spreading pile of stones called a rock midden. Other features at these sites may include small hearths.

8. (engineering) Characteristic forms or shapes of parts. For example, a hole, boss, slot, cut, chamfer, or fillet.
9. (statistics, machine learning) An individual measurable property or characteristic of a phenomenon being observed.
10. (music) The act of being featured in a piece of music.
11. (linguistics) The elements into which linguistic units can be broken down.

    Hyponyms: gender, number, person, tense

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:characteristic

Derived terms

• featural
• feature article

Translations

Further reading

• feature in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Verb

feature (third-person singular simple present features, present participle featuring, simple past and past participle featured)

1. (transitive) To ascribe the greatest importance to something within a certain context.
2. (transitive) To star, to contain.
3. (intransitive) To appear, to make an appearance.
4. (transitive, dated) To have features resembling.
   • Sunday. Reading for the Young (page 219)

     More than his talents, Roger grudged him his looks, the brown eyes, golden hair, and oval face, which made people say how Johnny Weir featured his mother.

Translations

Middle English

Noun

feature

1. Alternative form of feture

English

Etymology

From Middle English distinccioun, from Old French distinction (attested 12th century), from the Latin accusative distinctionem, action noun of distinguo (“I distinguish”). Used in English from the late 14th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??st??k??n/

Noun

distinction (countable and uncountable, plural distinctions)

1. That which distinguishes; a single occurrence of a determining factor or feature, the fact of being divided; separation, discrimination.
2. The act of distinguishing, discriminating; discrimination.
3. Specifically, a feature that causes someone or something to stand out as being better; a mark of honour, rank, eminence or excellence; being distinguished.
   • 2013, Daniel Taylor, Steven Gerrard goal against Poland ensures England will go to World Cup (in The Guardian, 15 October 2013)[2]

     Leighton Baines, playing with distinction again, sent over a left-wing cross with pace and accuracy. Welbeck, prominently involved all night, could not reach it but Rooney was directly behind him, flashing his header past Szczesny.

Antonyms

• (that which distinguishes): confusion

Derived terms

• contradistinction
• distinction without a difference

Related terms

• distinct
• distinguish
• distinguished
• distinguishable
• distinguishness

Translations

French

Etymology

From Old French distinction (attested in the 12th century), from borrowed from the Latin accusative distinctionem, the action noun of distinguere (“distinguish”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dis.t??k.sj??/
• Rhymes: -??
• Homophone: distinctions

Noun

distinction f (plural distinctions)

1. distinction (difference, honour)

Related terms

• distinct
• distinguer

Further reading

• “distinction” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).