Discriminate
adj, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 To make distinctions. intransitive
"Since he was color blind he was unable to discriminate between the blue and green bottles."
- 2 recognize or perceive the difference wordnet
- 3 To treat or affect differently, depending on differences in traits.
"Low self-esteem can affect both rich and poor people: it doesn't discriminate."
- 4 distinguish wordnet
- 5 To treat or affect differently, depending on differences in traits.; To make decisions harmful to (a person or group) based on prejudice. intransitive
"The law prohibits discriminating against people based on their skin color."
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- 6 treat differently on the basis of sex or race wordnet
- 7 To treat or affect differently, depending on differences in traits.; To infringe upon (a person's rights) in a prejudicial manner. intransitive, uncommon
"The ordinance condones immorality and discriminates against my children's rights to grow up in a healthy, decent community."
- 8 To set apart as being different; to mark as different; to separate from another by discerning differences; to distinguish. transitive
"To discriminate the goats from the sheep."
- 1 Having its differences marked; distinguished by certain tokens.
"Nevertheless it is certain, that oisters, and cockles, and mussels, which move not, have no discriminate sex"
- 1 marked by the ability to see or make fine distinctions wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"We must be able to discriminate between objects and situations."
Etymology
First attested in 1615; borrowed from Latin discrīminātus, perfect passive participle of discrīminō (“to divide, separate, distinguish”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from discrīmen (“a space between, division, separation, distinction”), from discernō (“to divide, separate, distinguish, discern”).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.