a distinction without difference

a Determinative

— A is used when the following word could be any of a certain type. Compare "A book I saw on the shelf" and "The book I gave you yesterday".

a Noun

— A is the first letter of the alphabet. The letter "a" comes before "b". — In some schools, an A is a very high grade. Ron got an A on his earth science test.

distinction Noun

— A distinction is a difference that you have noticed or decided is important. Often used to separate things. Before we discuss how you can develop your creative powers, we need to make a distinction between two different but related activities --; THINKING and LEARNING. There is, in other words, no neat or clear distinction to be drawn between political equality and social and economic equality. — If something is done with distinction, it is done to a high level and other people recognise that. We only wanted to take athletes of distinction; no one is going just for the trip.

without Preposition

— Used to say that you don't have something or that something isn't in a place. I went all the way to school without my books. It's hard to make a word without a, e, i, o, or u. The picture's OK, but the room looks better without it. — Used to say that somebody didn't do something or that something didn't happen. She walked past without looking at me. Without stopping, he ran all the way home. — outside

difference Noun

— The quality of being different. You need to learn to accept differences in people. — A characteristic of something that makes it different from something else. There are three differences between these two pictures. — A disagreement or argument. The people had to settle their differences before they could work together.