discriminate

  • 1discriminate — di‧scrim‧i‧nate [dɪˈskrɪmneɪt] verb [intransitive] HUMAN RESOURCES LAW to behave unfairly towards one group of people or one type of company or product: discriminate against • employment practices that discriminate against women • The court… …

    Financial and business terms

  • 2discriminate — dis·crim·i·nate /dis kri mə ˌnāt/ vi nat·ed, nat·ing: to make a difference in treatment or favor on a basis other than individual merit; esp: to make a difference in treatment on a basis prohibited by law (as national origin, race, sex, religion …

    Law dictionary

  • 3Discriminate — Dis*crim i*nate, v. i. 1. To make a difference or distinction; to distinguish accurately; as, in judging of evidence, we should be careful to discriminate between probability and slight presumption. [1913 Webster] 2. (a) To treat unequally. (b)… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 4Discriminate — Dis*crim i*nate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Discriminated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Discriminating}.] To set apart as being different; to mark as different; to separate from another by discerning differences; to distinguish. Cowper. [1913 Webster] To… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 5discriminate — [v1] show prejudice be bigot, be partial, contradistinguish, disfavor, favor, hate, incline, judge, segregate, separate, set apart, show bias, single out, treat as inferior, treat differently, victimize; concepts 32,384 discriminate [v2]… …

    New thesaurus

  • 6Discriminate — Dis*crim i*nate, a. [L. discriminatus, p. p. of discriminare to divide, separate, fr. discrimen division, distinction, decision, fr. discernere. See {Discern}, and cf. {Criminate}.] Having the difference marked; distinguished by certain tokens.… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 7discriminate — (v.) 1620s, from L. discriminatus, pp. of discriminare to divide, separate, from discrimen (gen. discriminis) interval, distinction, difference, derived noun from discernere (see DISCERN (Cf. discern)). The adverse (usually racial) sense is first …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 8discriminate — vb *distinguish, differentiate, demarcate Analogous words: *compare, contrast, collate: *separate, divide, part: *detach, disengage Antonyms: confound Contrasted words: confuse, *mistake …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 9discriminate — ► VERB 1) recognize a distinction. 2) make an unjust distinction in the treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, sex, or age. DERIVATIVES discriminative adjective. ORIGIN Latin discriminare distinguish… …

    English terms dictionary

  • 10discriminate — [di skrim′i nāt΄; ] for adj. [, di skrim′init] vt. discriminated, discriminating [< L discriminatus, pp. of discriminare, to divide, distinguish < discrimen, division, distinction < discernere: see DISCERN] 1. to constitute a difference… …

    English World dictionary