discrimination

American  

[dih-skrim-uh-ney-shuhn] / dɪˌskrɪm əˈneɪ ʃən /

noun

• discriminations
  plural

1. an act or instance of discriminating, or of making a distinction.

2. treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit.

   racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.

3. the power of making fine distinctions; discriminating judgment.

   She chose the colors with great discrimination.

   Synonyms:

   perception, acumen, taste, discernment

4. Archaic. something that serves to differentiate.

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discrimination British  

/ dɪˌskrɪmɪˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. unfair treatment of a person, racial group, minority, etc; action based on prejudice

2. subtle appreciation in matters of taste

3. the ability to see fine distinctions and differences

4. electronics the selection of a signal having a particular frequency, amplitude, phase, etc, effected by the elimination of other signals by means of a discriminator

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nondiscrimination
  noun
• prediscrimination
  noun
• self-discrimination
  noun
• antidiscrimination
  adjective
• discriminational
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• discriminations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of discrimination

First recorded in 1640–50; from Latin discrīminātiōn-, stem of discrīminātiō “division, separation,” literally “a dividing,” equivalent to discrīmināt(us) “separated” (past participle of discrīmināre “to divide up, separate”; see discriminate) + -ion ( def. )

Explanation

Discrimination means distinguishing between two or more people or things. Usually, discrimination means an unfair system that treats one group of people worse than another. Discrimination isn't always a bad thing. You have to use discrimination to tell a good restaurant from a bad one, or a good idea from a bad one. However, this word is very tarnished by its main use these days: as a word for unfair treatment of people, based on racism, sexism, homophobia, or another prejudice. There is a huge history of discrimination in the United States.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

discrimination discriminations

Stern: He wrote that Bostock supports, not undermines, the court’s conclusion in the latest trans cases, because in Bostock, everyone agreed that adverse actions against the employees was discrimination, right?

From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2026

They said the university stood for "respect for human dignity and opposes discrimination, hatred and racism".

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

Targeting that content would amount to unlawful discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals, who are explicitly protected against discrimination in California, said Elizabeth Graves, senior staff attorney in the educational equity unit of Public Counsel.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

The quality of civil rights enforcement isn’t measured by how much data the government collects but whether people are protected from discrimination when and where it happens.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

I had grandparents who’d lived through the horror of Jim Crow laws and the humiliation of housing discrimination and basically mistrusted authority of any sort.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

The #MeToo movement in 2017 increased awareness of the subtle - and the not so subtle - discriminations women face at work.

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2024

Italy’s watchdog added that the measures imposed aimed at avoiding discriminations and granting efficiency to any potential new players in the sector.

From Reuters ● Oct. 14, 2021

However, as of mid-August, only 28% of young Black New York City residents are vaccinated, often rooted in distrust of government or current discriminations.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 22, 2021

But making discriminations isn’t always discriminatory, and it isn’t a knockdown argument against a rule to say that it excludes good candidates and includes bad ones.

From New York Times ● Jul. 24, 2018

It should not be necessary to say that the discussion of Odysseus should not amount to "character-study," and should not drift anywhere near hair-splitting moral discriminations.

From Literature in the Elementary School by Porter Lander MacClintock

Related Words

• bigotry
• favoritism
• hatred
• inequity
• injustice
• intolerance
• prejudice
• unfairness