Distinguished looking woman...

[Sofaspot]

With does that mean?

My parents' neighbour have told them that their DD (me) is a very distinguished looking woman.

I fear they mean a middle aged frump! What else could they mean?. Fwiw, I mostly wfh and have always favoured comfort over style, it's highly unlikely neighbour has ever seen me anything but casually dressed.

I’d take it as a compliment. If I was going to call someone distinguished, I’d think that they carried themselves well, they were smart and sort of timeless. I wouldn’t associate anything negative with it.

Its an odd one, isnt it?
Sounds complmentary and at the same time is unusual enough to make you think they were trying to be polite!
(like telling someone there baby name is so unique when you mean awful!!LOL).

Im sure in this case though it was meant well. Maybe you look like a learned professor OP!😉

I dont know what the dictionary definition is but I would take distinguished to mean nicely dressed and an air of professionalism and confidence.
Definitely a compliment but it sounds a bit of an old fashioned term.

It was an old person who said it.

I would read it as a compliment. I think of distinguished people as those with good bone structure who have a dignity, intelligence and presence - they command attention. The word quite literally means "better than most people", after all.

No pleasing some people! Would you rather be called a scruffy chav, OP?

I would expect good posture is implied in there somewhere

Definitely a compliment!
Well put together, quality clothing and healthy appearance. All good stuff.

I wouldn't take it as anything to do with clothes at all. To me it implies that you look like an interesting and intelligent person, and probably one who stands tall. These are good qualities so I would take it as a compliment.

I've just thought this word might soon be lost as it's mostly used in a different kind of way, i.e, "How does one distinguish between this and that?", as opposed to "She's looking very distinguished".

To me it means older but still standing out as attractive.

I don't think so. It's often used to indicate somebody who excels in some area, often after a long career.

Surely good bone structure and a regal air?