Meaning & use
distinctive voice
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Meaning
nouncountable
A way of speaking, singing, or writing that is clearly different and easy to recognize.
Grammar: Countable: a distinctive voice, distinctive voices. Often used figuratively for a writer's or artist's personal style.
Patterns
- a distinctive voice
- have a distinctive voice
- find your distinctive voice
The singer has a distinctive voice that you can recognize after just a few notes.
The novel is told in a distinctive voice that mixes humor and sadness.
As a young writer, she struggled to find her own distinctive voice.
Word forms
| plural | distinctive voices |
|---|
Common combinations
- have a distinctive voice
- The radio host has a distinctive voice that listeners love.
- find your distinctive voice
- It took him years to find his distinctive voice as a poet.
- a distinctive voice in
- She became a distinctive voice in modern journalism.
- a distinctive voice of
- The film is a distinctive voice of the 1990s generation.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unique voice
- Stronger; 'unique' means the only one of its kind, while 'distinctive' means clearly different.
- recognizable voice
- Focuses on being easily identified; 'distinctive' also suggests it stands out as special.
Word family
- distinctively adverb
- In a way that is easy to recognize as different.
Commonly confused: distinctive voice or distinct voice?
distinctive voice vs distinct voice
'Distinct' means separate and clear; 'distinctive' means standing out as a special feature.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'distinctive voice' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The phrase 'a distinctive voice in + field' is correct. The other prepositions do not fit this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “distinctive voice”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.