Discriminate

How to spell discriminate

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce discriminate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does discriminate mean?

1. verbTo treat a person or group unjustly on the basis of a category such as race, sex, age, or disability.
2. verbTo recognise or draw a clear distinction between two or more things.

Discriminate in a sentence

• The new policy makes it illegal to discriminate against older applicants.

• A good editor can discriminate between a strong argument and a weak one.

• Employers must not discriminate on the grounds of disability when hiring.

• The software can discriminate genuine transactions from fraudulent ones.

Where does discriminate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin verb discriminare, meaning 'to divide, separate, or set apart', which was built on the noun discrimen, a 'dividing line' or 'distinction'. That noun in turn traces back to discernere, 'to sift apart' or 'to perceive a difference', formed from dis- meaning 'apart' and cernere meaning 'to separate or judge'. English adopted the word in the early 1600s, at first with the neutral sense of telling things apart or noticing fine differences. The darker modern meaning, treating people unjustly on the grounds of a category such as race or sex, grew up much later, mainly in the 1800s, as 'to make a distinction' hardened into 'to make an unfair distinction'. The single c and the doubled nothing-else can trip writers, since the spelling keeps the Latin crimin (the same root visible in 'crime' and 'discriminating'), not a double letter.

How the word is built

• dis- (apart)
• crimin- (from Latin crimen/discernere: to separate, distinguish)
• -ate (verb suffix)