Meaning & use

favoritism

noun·Academic

The unfair practice of giving preferential treatment to one person or group over others.

See it in a sentence

Employees complained about favoritism after the manager's nephew got promoted ahead of everyone else.

The coach was accused of favoritism for giving his star player special treatment.

A note on using this word

'Favoritism' always implies an unfair or unearned advantage, distinguishing it from simply having a preference.

Words with a similar meaning

biaspartiality

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

Words with an opposite meaning

fairnessimpartiality

Make it your own

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