Library / English Dictionary

PREJUDICE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation

Synonyms:

bias; preconception; prejudice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("prejudice" is a kind of...):

partiality; partisanship (an inclination to favor one group or view or opinion over alternatives)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "prejudice"):

taboo; tabu (a prejudice (especially in Polynesia and other South Pacific islands) that prohibits the use or mention of something because of its sacred nature)

irrational hostility (extreme prejudice)

experimenter bias ((psychology) bias introduced by an experimenter whose expectations about the outcome of the experiment can be subtly communicated to the participants in the experiment)

homophobia (prejudice against (fear or dislike of) homosexual people and homosexuality)

Islamophobia (prejudice against Muslims)

racism (the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races)

tendentiousness (an intentional and controversial bias)

Derivation:

prejudice (influence (somebody's) opinion in advance)

prejudice (disadvantage by prejudice)

prejudicial; prejudicious (tending to favor preconceived ideas)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Influence (somebody's) opinion in advance

Synonyms:

prejudice; prepossess

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "prejudice" is one way to...):

act upon; influence; work (have and exert influence or effect)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "prejudice"):

bias; predetermine (cause to be biased)

bias (influence in an unfair way)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

prejudice (a partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Disadvantage by prejudice

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "prejudice" is one way to...):

disadvantage; disfavor; disfavour (put at a disadvantage; hinder, harm)

Domain category:

justice (judgment involved in the determination of rights and the assignment of rewards and punishments)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

prejudice (a partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation)

Credits

 Context examples: 

If their praise is censure, your censure may be praise, for they are not more undiscerning, than you are prejudiced and unjust.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Meaning British prejudice in all its queer manifestations.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An older and more world-wise man might have been puzzled by her varying moods, her sudden prejudices, her quick resentment at all constraint and authority.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I need not point out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case considerably in any future proceedings which may arise.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This I mention as an instance of the great power of habit and prejudice.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Do you know the only value life has is what life puts upon itself? And it is of course over-estimated since it is of necessity prejudiced in its own favour.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

That Hal’s views on art, or the sort of society plays his mother’s brother wrote, should have anything to do with the chopping of a few sticks of firewood, passes comprehension; nevertheless the quarrel was as likely to tend in that direction as in the direction of Charles’s political prejudices.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

And with regard to Anne's dislike of Bath, she considered it as a prejudice and mistake arising, first, from the circumstance of her having been three years at school there, after her mother's death; and secondly, from her happening to be not in perfectly good spirits the only winter which she had afterwards spent there with herself.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

And now, having demonstrated this important conclusion so that it is clear to anyone, however prejudiced or obtuse, I am of opinion that we cannot do better than break up our camp and travel to westward until we find some means of ascent.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now, I make a point of never having any prejudices, and of following docilely wherever fact may lead me, and so, in the very first stage of the investigation, I found myself looking a little askance at the part which had been played by Mr. Alec Cunningham.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)