Distinctive means easy to recognise as different from anything else. A distinctive smell, distinctive style, distinctively British.
It is neutral about quality — a distinctive taste may be one you dislike — and it means only that you would know it again. Distinctive markings are how a bird or a suspect is identified. Note the difference from distinguished, which means eminent, and from distinct, which means clearly separate: a distinct possibility is a clear one and a distinctive one would be nonsense. Note distinctively, distinctiveness.
1adjectivedistinctiveEasy to recognise as different from anything else.
“She has a very distinctive laugh, loud and high like a bird's.”
synonyms: characteristic, unmistakable
distinctive is a quality of recognisability.
Latin distinguere means to separate or mark off, from a root about pricking. Distinct, distinguish and extinguish come from the same marking.
Latin
distinctus
English, today
distinctive
From Latin distinctus, perfect passive participle of distinguo (to push apart, to divide; see distinct) + -ive. Cognate with French distinctif and Medieval Latin distinctivus.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA