Meaning & use

discrimination

noun·Academic

Unfair treatment of a person or group based on characteristics such as race, gender, or age.

See it in a sentence

The lawsuit accused the company of discrimination in its hiring practices.

Laws now protect workers from discrimination based on age or disability.

A note on using this word

Discrimination also has a neutral sense meaning the ability to notice fine differences, as in a fine discrimination between similar wines.

Words with a similar meaning

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

Another way to use it

2. noun

The ability to recognize fine or subtle differences between things.

Years of training gave the sommelier remarkable discrimination between similar wines.

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