Literary notes about Distinct (AI summary)
Writers use "distinct" to emphasize clear separations or unique characteristics in a variety of contexts. It can denote a clear-cut quality, such as identifying unique tendencies or principles in behavior and thought ([1], [2]), or classify groups and societal structures with precision ([3], [4]). The term also serves as a marker of clarity in sensory descriptions—whether referring to a sound that becomes steadily more discernible as it approaches ([5]) or the crisp articulation of a voice ([6]). In philosophical and scientific debates, "distinct" helps to delineate discrete categories and ideas, as seen when differentiating between the realms of impressions and ideas or when asserting that every effect is a separate event from its cause ([7], [8]). Overall, the word reinforces the idea of separateness and unmistakable identity within the narrative or argument.
- There was a distinct tendency among the less experienced critics to complain of their sentiments and behavior.
— from Mrs. Warren's Profession by Bernard Shaw - In a word, then, every effect is a distinct event from its cause.
— from An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume - Every healthy society falls into three distinct types, which reciprocally
— from The Twilight of the Idols; or, How to Philosophize with the Hammer. The Antichrist by Nietzsche - Generally the members of a corporation were divided into three distinct classes--the masters, the paid assistants or companions, and the apprentices.
— from Manners, Customs, and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period by P. L. Jacob - There was at first such a tiny sound that a leaf might have fallen on it and smothered it, but as it came nearer it was more distinct.
— from Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie - “I am a servant,” Grigory said suddenly, in a loud and distinct voice.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - All the perceptions of the human mind resolve themselves into two distinct kinds, which I shall call IMPRESSIONS and IDEAS.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume - Whatever is distinct, is distinguishable; and whatever is distinguishable, is separable by the thought or imagination.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume
