discriminate
treat people unfairly as a group
to treat someone worse than others because of their race, sex, age, religion, or similar reason
to discriminate against [someone/some group]
- The company was fined after it was found to discriminate against older workers in its hiring process.
- It is illegal to discriminate against someone on the grounds of their race or religion.
- Some landlords still discriminate against tenants with children, even though the law forbids it.
- She felt the school had discriminated against her because of her disability.
- The law says you cannot discriminate against people with disabilities.
- They were angry because the club discriminated against women.
- The boss does not discriminate against foreign workers.
- We must not discriminate against someone because of their skin color.
see or show differences clearly
to see or show how two or more things are different, especially in a careful or exact way
to discriminate between [A] and [B]
- It can be difficult to discriminate between genuine and fake reviews online.
- At first, I could not discriminate between the two twin brothers' voices.
- The new test is designed to discriminate accurately between mild and severe cases.
- Children need to learn to discriminate between reliable and unreliable information on the internet.
- The machine can discriminate between different types of metal.
- Some people cannot discriminate between red and green.
- The teacher asked students to discriminate between facts and opinions.
- It is not always easy to discriminate between a cold and the flu.
selective, affecting only specific targets
describing something that is selective and only affects or chooses certain people or things, not all of them
a discriminate [action/policy/measure]
- They called for discriminate use of force that would avoid civilian casualties.
- The sanctions are designed to be discriminate, targeting only senior officials.
- A more discriminate approach is needed, focusing on high-risk groups rather than the whole population.
- The new screening tool offers a highly discriminate measure of language ability.
- The army said it would use discriminate force to protect civilians.
- We need a more discriminate plan that helps the people who really need it.
- This test is very discriminate and can show small differences in skill.
- The government prefers a discriminate policy instead of a total ban.
- Base: discriminate
- Base: discriminate
- 3rd Person Singular: discriminates
- Present Participle: discriminating
- Past: discriminated
discriminate against
1treat someone unfairly because of group
to treat a person or group worse than others because of race, sex, age, or another reason
- The new policy may unintentionally discriminate against part-time workers.
- It is against the law to discriminate against people because of their religion.
- Some employers still discriminate against applicants with criminal records.
discriminate between
1see the difference between things
to see clearly how two or more things are different
- The test cannot reliably discriminate between viral and bacterial infections.
- Good managers must discriminate between minor problems and serious risks.
- The software is able to discriminate between spam and genuine emails.
discriminate in favor of
1give special advantage to a group
to give better treatment or more help to one group than to others
- The scholarship program is designed to discriminate in favor of students from low-income families.
- Some people argue that these policies unfairly discriminate in favor of certain groups.
- The tax rules appear to discriminate in favor of large corporations.
positively discriminate
1give extra help to a disadvantaged group
especially in British English, to give better treatment to groups who were treated badly in the past, to make things more equal
- The policy aims to positively discriminate in favor of women in senior roles.
- Some critics claim that to positively discriminate is simply another form of unfair treatment.
- The university decided to positively discriminate to increase the number of students from poorer backgrounds.