Distinctual
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Distinctive; serving to allow distinctions.
"'In the normal instances of life,' he said in that complacently doctrinaire tone of voice with which he had once argued with Grigory Vasilyevich about religious faith, teasing him as he stood at Fyodor Pavlovich's table, 'in the normal instances of life, beating servants is indeed forbidden by the law nowadays, and the masters have all stopped beating us, sir, well, but in the distinctual instances of life, and not only in Russia, but in all the world, even though it be the very French Republic itself, they continue to beat us, just as they did in the time of Adam and Eve, sir, and they will never stop it, sir, and yet you even in a distinctual instance did not dare, sir.'"
Example
More examples"'In the normal instances of life,' he said in that complacently doctrinaire tone of voice with which he had once argued with Grigory Vasilyevich about religious faith, teasing him as he stood at Fyodor Pavlovich's table, 'in the normal instances of life, beating servants is indeed forbidden by the law nowadays, and the masters have all stopped beating us, sir, well, but in the distinctual instances of life, and not only in Russia, but in all the world, even though it be the very French Republic itself, they continue to beat us, just as they did in the time of Adam and Eve, sir, and they will never stop it, sir, and yet you even in a distinctual instance did not dare, sir.'"
Etymology
From distinct + -ual.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.