indistinguishable
part of speech
adjective (indistinguishable; not used with «more» in the strict sense, but people say «almost indistinguishable», «nearly indistinguishable»)
meaning for a pupil
1) So alike that you cannot tell them apart. tree →
2) So faint or unclear that you cannot pick it out or recognise it, for example a shape in fog. tree →
sense in the lessons
Used about twins, copies, fakes, colours, sounds and samples in science: «the two liquids look indistinguishable, so we need a test». In stories it builds mystery or comedy (twins swapping places). In safety it warns that dangerous things can look like safe ones (some poisonous berries look indistinguishable from edible ones). In maths, «indistinguishable objects» means objects you count as the same (identical balls). Phrases: «indistinguishable from», «almost indistinguishable», «virtually indistinguishable».
examples
- The twins are indistinguishable until one of them smiles. tree →
- This fake note is almost indistinguishable from a real one. tree →
- In the fog, the hills were indistinguishable from the sky. tree →
- The two salts are indistinguishable by sight, so we tested them with water. tree →
- Some mushrooms that can kill you are nearly indistinguishable from safe ones, so never pick wild mushrooms to eat. tree →
- Her copy of the painting was indistinguishable from the original. tree →
- In the problem, the five red balls are indistinguishable, so swapping them does not make a new arrangement. tree →
- His voice on the phone was indistinguishable from his dad's. tree →
note
Built from in- (not) + distinguish (tell apart) + -able. Use «indistinguishable from», not «to» or «with». Spelling: -guish-, -able. In maths counting problems, indistinguishable things give fewer arrangements than different ones: three identical red counters can be placed in a row in only 1 way, but three different counters in 6 ways.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «indistinguishable» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.