discriminate between

discriminate between (someone or something)

To recognize the differences between people or things. I have a hard time discriminating between Jim and Greg, but they are identical twins after all. You can discriminate between hydrangea and phlox by looking at their leaves.
See also: between, discriminate
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

discriminate between

someone and someone else or something and something else to distinguish between people or between things. I find it hard these days to discriminate between my friends and my enemies. Can you discriminate between this shade of pink and that one?
See also: between, discriminate
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • discriminate between (someone or something)
  • discern
  • discern (someone or something) from (someone or something)
  • discern from
  • discerning
  • discern between (someone or something) and (someone or something)
  • discern between and
  • (as) different as night and day
  • different as night and day
  • differ in (something)
References in classic literature
The first means of recognition is the sense of hearing; which with us is far more highly developed than with you, and which enables us not only to distinguish by the voice our personal friends, but even to discriminate between different classes, at least so far as concerns the three lowest orders, the Equilateral, the Square, and the Pentagon -- for of the Isosceles I take no account.
Among the innumerable categories applicable to the phenomena of human life one may discriminate between those in which substance prevails and those in which form prevails.
Let them discriminate between what they remember and what they dreamed, call a spade a spade, give us facts, and honor their own senses with trust.
* "Smith" would only be a quite satisfactory representation of vague words if we failed to discriminate between different people called Smith.
Therefore, a rapid diagnostic assay was developed to discriminate between HPAI and LPAI subtype H5 viruses by 1-step real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with melting curve analysis.
The melting curve analysis described here provides a rapid, accurate, and high-throughput approach to discriminate between HPAI and LPAI.
After being able to discriminate between sounds from various languages, babies by age 6 months notice novel sounds solely from their native tongue (SN: 2/8/92, p.
Even primatologists who have long studied monkeys prove unable to discriminate between previously seen and new monkey faces, according to an unpublished study by Odile Petit of the Primate Ethology and Behavioral Ecology Center in Strasbourg, France.
If the Maryland law "provided for a holiday only for followers of the Christian faith on the days around Easter, it would, on its face, discriminate between denominations and be subject to strict scrutiny," the 4th Circuit said in a unanimous ruling.
Historically, cup and immersion tests have provided adequate data to discriminate between good products and-poor performers.
The effect is to discriminate between virus species officially recognized by the ICTV and other viral entities such as tentative species, viral strains, serotypes, or other subspecific entities within a species.
The same equipment can discriminate between a sample of orange juice made from frozen concentrate and one that had simply been pasteurized, according to Philip E.
In research presented to an American Meat Science Association conference at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater last June, Spanier showed that the device could discriminate between Serrano hams that have been dry-cured for a full year and less flavorful ones that have been cured for only 7 months.
In some cases they could discriminate between elephants found within 150 kilometers of each other.