Part 429

2. Separated from others by distinct difference; having, or indicating, superiority; eminent or known; illustrious; -- applied to persons and deeds.

Syn. -- Marked; noted; famous; conspicuous; celebrated; transcendent; eminent; illustrious; extraordinary; prominent. -- Distinguished, Eminent, Conspicuous, Celebrated, Illustrious. A man is eminent, when he stands high as compared with those around him; conspicuous, when he is so elevated as to be seen and observed; distinguished, when he has something which makes him stand apart from others in the public view; celebrated, when he is widely spoken of with honor and respect; illustrious, when a splendor is thrown around him which confers the highest dignity.

Dis*tin"guish*ed*ly (?), adv. In a distinguished manner. [R.] Swift.

Dis*tin"guish*er (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, distinguishes or separates one thing from another by marks of diversity. Sir T. Browne.

2. One who discerns accurately the difference of things; a nice or judicious observer. Dryden.

Dis*tin"guish*ing, a. Constituting difference, or distinction from everything else; distinctive; peculiar; characteristic.

The distinguishing doctrines of our holy religion.

Locke.

Distinguishing pennant (Naut.), a special pennant by which any particular vessel in a fleet is recognized and signaled. Simmonds.

Dis*tin"guish*ing*ly, adv. With distinction; with some mark of preference. Pope.

Dis*tin"guish*ment (?), n. Observation of difference; distinction. Graunt.

Dis*ti"tle (?), v. t. To deprive of title or right. [R.] B. Jonson.

||Dis"to*ma (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. di- = di`s- twice + &?; mouth.] (Zoöl.) A genus of parasitic, trematode worms, having two suckers for attaching themselves to the part they infest. See 1st Fluke, 2.

Dis*tort" (?), a. [L. distortus, p. p. of distorquere to twist, distort; dis- + torquere to twist. See Torsion.] Distorted; misshapen. [Obs.]

Her face was ugly and her mouth distort.

Spenser.

Dis*tort", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Distorted; p. pr. & vb. n. Distorting.] 1. To twist of natural or regular shape; to twist aside physically; as, to distort the limbs, or the body.

Whose face was distorted with pain.

Thackeray.

2. To force or put out of the true posture or direction; to twist aside mentally or morally.

Wrath and malice, envy and revenge, do darken and distort the understandings of men.

Tillotson.

3. To wrest from the true meaning; to pervert; as, to distort passages of Scripture, or their meaning.

Syn. -- To twist; wrest; deform; pervert.

Dis*tort"er (?), n. One who, or that which, distorts.

Dis*tor"tion (?), n. [L. distortio: cf. F. distortion.] 1. The act of distorting, or twisting out of natural or regular shape; a twisting or writhing motion; as, the distortions of the face or body.

2. A wresting from the true meaning. Bp. Wren.

3. The state of being distorted, or twisted out of shape or out of true position; crookedness; perversion.