recognizable; marked; "noticed a distinct improvement"; "at a distinct (or decided) disadvantage"
easy to perceive; especially clearly outlined; "a distinct flavor"; "a distinct odor of turpentine"; "a distinct outline"; "the ship appeared as a distinct silhouette"; "distinct fingerprints"
(often followed by `from') not alike; different in nature or quality; "plants of several distinct types"; "the word `nationalism' is used in at least two distinct senses"; "gold is distinct from iron"; "a tree related to but quite distinct from the European beech"; "management had interests quite distinct from those of their employees"
(computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear
a person's social heritage: previous experience or training; "he is a lawyer with a sports background"
information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem; "the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident"
the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground; "he posed her against a background of rolling hills"
relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation; "when the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background"
extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured; "they got a bad connection and could hardly hear one another over the background signals"
understate the importance or quality of; "he played down his royal ancestry"
an occurrence that causes special pleasure or delight
provide treatment for; "The doctor treated my broken leg"; "The nurses cared for the bomb victims"; "The patient must be treated right away or she will die"; "Treat the infection with antibiotics"
regard or consider in a specific way; "I treated his advances as a joke"
engage in negotiations in order to reach an agreement; "they had to treat with the King"
provide with a gift or entertainment; "Grandmother always treated us to the circus"; "I like to treat myself to a day at a spa when I am depressed"
interact in a certain way; "Do right by her"; "Treat him with caution, please"; "Handle the press reporters gently"
marked by utter benignity; resembling or befitting an angel or saint; "angelic beneficence"; "a beatific smile"; "a saintly concern for his fellow men"; "my sainted mother"
having a sweet nature befitting an angel or cherub; "an angelic smile"; "a cherubic face"; "looking so seraphic when he slept"; "a sweet disposition"
designation by the chair granting a person the right to speak in a deliberative body; "he was unable to make his motion because he couldn't get recognition by the chairman"
the process of recognizing something or someone by remembering; "a politician whose recall of names was as remarkable as his recognition of faces"; "experimental psychologists measure the elapsed time from the onset of the stimulus to its recognition by the observer"
an acceptance (as of a claim) as true and valid; "the recognition of the Rio Grande as a boundary between Mexico and the United States"
approval; "give her recognition for trying"; "he was given credit for his work"; "give her credit for trying"; "the credits were given at the end of the film"
the explicit and formal acknowledgement of a government or of the national independence of a country; "territorial disputes were resolved in Guatemala's recognition of Belize in 1991"
(biology) the ability of one molecule to attach to another molecule that has a complementary shape; "molecular recognition drives all of biology, for instance, hormone and receptor or antibody-antigen interactions or the organization of molecules into larger biologically active entities"
the state or quality of being recognized or acknowledged; "the partners were delighted with the recognition of their work"; "she seems to avoid much in the way of recognition or acknowledgement of feminist work prior to her own"
precisely determined or limited or defined; especially fixed by rule or by a specific and constant cause; "a determinate distance"; "a determinate number"; "determinate variations in animals"
not continuing to grow indefinitely at the apex; "determinate growth"
remove irrational quantities from; "This function can be rationalized"
think rationally; employ logic or reason; "When one wonders why one is doing certain things, one should rationalize"
structure and run according to rational or scientific principles in order to achieve desired results; "We rationalized the factory's production and raised profits"