discriminate

English

Etymology

From Latin discriminatus, past participle of discriminare (“to divide, separate, distinguish”), from discrimen (“a space between, division, separation, distinction”), from discerno (“to divide, separate, distinguish, discern”); see discern, discreet, discrete. Compare crime.

Pronunciation

• (verb) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈkɹɪmɪneɪt/

  • Audio (RP)

    (file)

• (adjective) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈkɹɪmɪnət/

Verb

discriminate (third-person singular simple present discriminates, present participle discriminating, simple past and past participle discriminated)

1. (intransitive) To make distinctions.

   Since he was color blind he was unable to discriminate between the blue and green bottles.

2. (intransitive, construed with against) To make decisions based on prejudice.

   The law prohibits discriminating against people based on their skin color.

3. (transitive) To set apart as being different; to mark as different; to separate from another by discerning differences; to distinguish.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Cowper to this entry?)

   • 1670-7, Isaac Barrow, “Sermon XX: Against rash Censuring and Judging”, in The Theological Works, volume 1, published 1818, page 448:

     To discriminate the goats from the sheep.

Usage notes

Due to the strong pejorative connotations of sense of “decide based on prejudice”, care should be taken in using the term in the sense “distinguish, make distinctions”, and this sense is primarily used in formal discourse; synonyms are generally used instead.

Synonyms

• (make distinctions): distinguish, differentiate; see also Thesaurus:tell apart
• (make decisions based on prejudice): disfavor

Antonyms

• (make decisions based on prejudice): favor

Derived terms

Terms derived from discriminate

• discriminative

• discriminatory

Related terms

► English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *krey-‎ (0 c, 82 e)

Translations

to distinguish

• Arabic: مَيَّزَ‎ (mayyaza)
• Bulgarian: различавам (bg) (različavam), разграничавам (bg) (razgraničavam)
• Danish: skelne (da), sondre
• Finnish: huomata ero, tehdä ero
• French: discriminer (fr)

• Japanese: 区別する (ja) (kubetsu suru)
• Norman: discriminner
• Sanskrit: वेवेक्ति (vevekti)
• Swedish: skilja (sv)

to make decisions based on prejudice

• Bulgarian: дискриминирам (diskriminiram)
• Catalan: discriminar (ca)
• Danish: diskriminere (da), forskelsbehandle
• Finnish: syrjiä (fi) (discriminate against), diskriminoida
• French: discriminer (fr)
• German: diskriminieren (de)
• Hungarian: diszkriminál (hu)
• Japanese: 差別する (ja) (sabetsu suru), 冷遇する (reigū suru)

• Maori: whakapai kanohi
• Norman: discriminner
• Polish: dyskryminować (pl)
• Russian: дискриминировать (ru) (diskriminirovatʹ)
• Spanish: discriminar (es)
• Swedish: diskriminera (sv)
• Thai: เลือกปฏิบัติ (lʉ̂ʉak-bpà-dtì-bàt)
• Vietnamese: kỳ thị (vi)

Adjective

discriminate (comparative more discriminate, superlative most discriminate)

1. Having the difference marked; distinguished by certain tokens.
   • 1631, [Francis Bacon], “9. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] VVilliam Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044372886:

     Nevertheless it is certain, that oisters, and cockles, and mussels, which move not, have no discriminate sex

Further reading

• discriminate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• discriminate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Translations

Having the difference marked

• Bulgarian: отчетлив (bg) (otčetliv)

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Italian

Verb

discriminate

1. second-person plural present indicative of discriminare
2. second-person plural imperative of discriminare
3. feminine plural of discriminato

Anagrams

• dimenticarsi

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Latin

Verb

discrīmināte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of discrīminō