distinguished | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

284 entries found.

"quality ascribed to someone, distinguishing mark (especially an excellent or lofty one)," late 14c., from Latin attributum "anything attributed," in grammar, "predicate," noun use of neuter of attributus, past participle of attribuere "assign, allot; ascribe, impute" (see attribute (v.)). Distinguished from the verb by having stress on the first syllable.

pre-eminent (adj.)

also preeminent, early 15c., "superior, distinguished beyond others, eminent above others," from Old French preeminent and directly from Medieval Latin preeminentem, from Latin praeeminentem (nominative praeeminens), present participle of praeeminare "to transcend, excel," literally "to project forward, rise above" (see pre-eminence). Related: Pre-eminently; preeminently.

landline (n.)

also land-line, by 1861, originally a telegraph wire run over land (as opposed to under sea); from land (n.) + line (n.). Later (by 1965), a telephone line which uses wire or some other material (distinguished from a radio or cellular line).

cowardice (n.)

"want of courage to face danger, dread of harm or pain," c. 1300, from Old French coardise (13c.), from coard, coart "coward" (see coward) + noun suffix -ise.

Cowardice, as distinguished from panic, is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination. [Ernest Hemingway, "Men at War," 1942]

indistinct (adj.)

1580s, "not seen or heard clearly," from Latin indistinctus "not distinguishable, confused, obscure," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + distinctus (see distinct). From c. 1600 as "not clearly defined or distinguished." Indistinctly is attested from c. 1400 in an obsolete sense "equally, alike, indiscriminately." Related: Indistinctness.

infection (n.)

late 14c., "infectious disease; contaminated condition;" from Old French infeccion "contamination, poisoning" (13c.) and directly from Late Latin infectionem (nominative infectio) "infection, contagion," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin inficere "to spoil, to stain" (see infect). Meaning "communication of disease by agency of air or water" (distinguished from contagion, which is body-to-body communication), is from 1540s.

Polack (n.)

"Polish person," 1570s, from Polish Polak "(male) Polish person," related to Polanie "Poles," Polska "Poland," polski "Polish" (see Pole). By 1834 as a term for Polish Jews (distinguished from Litvak). In North American usage, "Polish immigrant, person of Polish descent" (1879) and in that context considered offensive in English. As an adjective from c. 1600.

text (v.)

"to send a text message by mobile system," 2005; see text (n.). Related: Texted; texting. Formerly it meant "to write in text letters" (1590s), text letters being a kind of large writing used by clerks in the text or body of a manuscript (distinguished from the smaller hand used in the notes).

maxilla (n.)

"a jaw, a jawbone," 1670s, from Latin maxilla "upper jaw," diminutive of mala "jaw, cheekbone." "Maxilla stands to mala as axilla, 'armpit,' stands to ala 'wing'" [Klein]. Especially a bone of the upper jaw (maxilla superior) as distinguished from the mandible or lower jaw (maxilla inferior). Related: Maxillar; maxilliform.

underworld (n.)

c. 1600, "the lower world, Hades, place of departed souls," also "the earth, the world below the skies," as distinguished from heaven. Similar formation in German unterwelt, Dutch onderwereld, Danish underverden. Meaning "lower level of society" is first recorded 1890; "criminals and organized crime collectively" is attested from 1900.

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