The male bird has distinctive white markets on its head.
According to Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary 7th Edition, page 580, the word distinct has the meaning of ''easily or clearly heard, seen, felt, etc. ''
while the word ''distinctive'' has the meaning of ''having a quality or characteristic that makes something different and easily noticed''
Could I use distinct in that sentence above, if they are interchangeable in that case, would there be any difference in its meaning ?
There is also another example from the dictionary that makes me confused:
There was a distinct smell of gas.
and I also found a sentence from English language and usage written as :
…from somewhere nearby came the distinctive smell of new rubber.
Which sentence would be right ?
Best Answer
Contrasting "a distinctive smell ... " to "a distinct smell....".
The former means that the smell is different from other smells. The latter means the smell is easily sensed. So, in a situation where there are many competing odors, a distinctive smell might not be distinct. For example, in a room where a lot of people are wearing perfume, each perfume is likely to be distinctive, but they would not be distinct.