See distinction without a difference on Wiktionary
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "distinctions without a difference",
"tags": [
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{
"form": "distinctions without differences",
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{
"ref": "1831, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 14, in Homeward Bound:",
"text": "\"'The Active Inquirer' is the present name, though when we supported Mr. Adams it was called 'The Active Enquirer,' with an E.\"\n\"A distinction without a difference; I like that,\" interrupted Captain Truck.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1880, Mark Twain, Concerning the American Language, being part of a chapter which was crowded out of A Tramp Abroad:",
"text": "I said . . . I did not speak English at all—I only spoke American. He laughed, and said it was a distinction without a difference. I said no, the difference was not prodigious, but still it was considerable.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1964 December 25, “Obliterating the Effect”, in Time:",
"text": "The fact that the sit-in convictions were under state rather than federal law, ruled last week's majority, is \"a distinction without a difference.\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1996 June 13, “Editorial: A setback for attempts to censor the Internet”, in Honolulu Star-Bulletin:",
"text": "\"Obscene\" is a higher standard than \"indecent,\" although it seems like a distinction without a difference.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2007 June 29, Cass R. Sunstein, “The Supreme Court's conservative divide”, in The New Republic Online:",
"text": "The Bush Administration attempted to distinguish the current case from Flast. . . . Judge Richard Posner, writing for the court of appeals, responded that this was a distinction without a difference. In the end, all money is appropriated by Congress.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2018, The Jews: A History, John M Efron, Steven Weitzman, and Matthias B Lehmann:",
"text": "[Attacking European Jews while claiming to avenge Palestinian deaths], of course, collapses the distinction between Israeli Jews and those from European countries, making a mockery of the distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. For the terrorists, it is a distinction without a difference.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A linguistic or conceptual distinction which is of no practical importance or which has no effect on meaning; a perceived difference where there is no actual difference."
],
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"(set phrase) A linguistic or conceptual distinction which is of no practical importance or which has no effect on meaning; a perceived difference where there is no actual difference."
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"word": "much of a muchness"
},
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"word": "same difference"
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"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "perceived, but not actual difference",
"word": "merkityksetön ero"
},
{
"code": "he",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"sense": "perceived, but not actual difference",
"word": "אבחנת פנטום"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"distinction without a difference"
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}
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"word": "distinction without a difference"
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{
"ref": "1831, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 14, in Homeward Bound:",
"text": "\"'The Active Inquirer' is the present name, though when we supported Mr. Adams it was called 'The Active Enquirer,' with an E.\"\n\"A distinction without a difference; I like that,\" interrupted Captain Truck.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1880, Mark Twain, Concerning the American Language, being part of a chapter which was crowded out of A Tramp Abroad:",
"text": "I said . . . I did not speak English at all—I only spoke American. He laughed, and said it was a distinction without a difference. I said no, the difference was not prodigious, but still it was considerable.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1964 December 25, “Obliterating the Effect”, in Time:",
"text": "The fact that the sit-in convictions were under state rather than federal law, ruled last week's majority, is \"a distinction without a difference.\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1996 June 13, “Editorial: A setback for attempts to censor the Internet”, in Honolulu Star-Bulletin:",
"text": "\"Obscene\" is a higher standard than \"indecent,\" although it seems like a distinction without a difference.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2007 June 29, Cass R. Sunstein, “The Supreme Court's conservative divide”, in The New Republic Online:",
"text": "The Bush Administration attempted to distinguish the current case from Flast. . . . Judge Richard Posner, writing for the court of appeals, responded that this was a distinction without a difference. In the end, all money is appropriated by Congress.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2018, The Jews: A History, John M Efron, Steven Weitzman, and Matthias B Lehmann:",
"text": "[Attacking European Jews while claiming to avenge Palestinian deaths], of course, collapses the distinction between Israeli Jews and those from European countries, making a mockery of the distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. For the terrorists, it is a distinction without a difference.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
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],
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"(set phrase) A linguistic or conceptual distinction which is of no practical importance or which has no effect on meaning; a perceived difference where there is no actual difference."
],
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"distinction without a difference"
]
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "perceived, but not actual difference",
"word": "merkityksetön ero"
},
{
"code": "he",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"sense": "perceived, but not actual difference",
"word": "אבחנת פנטום"
}
],
"word": "distinction without a difference"
}
Download raw JSONL data for distinction without a difference meaning in All languages combined (3.9kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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