distinguishing

verb

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present)present participle and gerund of distinguish

adj

1. That serves to distinguish.

   “It has no obvious distinguishing characteristics, and therefore people are constantly ascribing to it the characteristics of other similar species.”

   “The distinguishing feature of an acronym is that it is pronounced as if it were a single word, in the manner of NATO and NASA.”

noun

1. The act by which something is distinguished or told apart.

   “There are not only these identifyings going on, but also there are distinguishings. For just as in the example above there are identifications of the various extents, there are distinguishings of these extents.”