discrimination

What it means

1. countableuncountableDiscernment, the act of discriminating, discerning, distinguishing, noting or perceiving differences between things, with the intent to understand rightly and make correct decisions.First known use early 17th c.

   Have you felt the weight of the considerations which have been presented, in order to show the importance of discrimination on the subject of revealed truth?

   1846, Henry Hollis, Christian Discrimination; Or, A Discourse on the Things in Religion which Differ, page 86

   3 more examples

   An earthquake here rolls harmless through the land, And Thou art good because the chimneys stand— There templed cities sink into the sea, And damp survivors, howling as they flee, Skip to the hills and hold a celebration In honor of Thy wise discrimination.

   1892, Ambrose Bierce, Black Beetles in Amber

   In place of a discrimination box a jumping apparatus was used, and apparently this required performance less foreign to the natural response repertory of the bird.

   1950, Lyle Vincent Jones, Analysis of Visual Discrimination Learning by Pigeons, page 14

   The 'pretraining' for the two-choice discrimination involved a discrimination between angles differing by 19° (6° versus 25°) in which the smaller angle was marked with a 2 cm Plexiglas square that the bats had previously detected in a simple one-choice discrimination.

   1989, Karen Ann Campbell, Mechanisms of Prey-tracking in the Echolocating Bat, page 71

   Synonyms: differentiation

2. countablesometimesuncountableDifferential treatment of an individual or group to their disadvantage; treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality; prejudice; bigotry.First known use early 19th c.

   reverse discrimination

   5 more examples

   sexual or racial discrimination

   The same arguments, however, which have effectually in this State [Rhode Island] maintained the disfranchisement of naturalized citizens, may prevail in those cases in which the State Constitution makes the discrimination against colored persons, as long as those State Constitutions remain in force.

   1865 June 17, William Beach Lawrence, “The Suffrage Question”, in National Anti-Slavery Standard, volume XXVI, number 6, New York, page 1, column 6

   The state, in the exercise of its general power to prescribe rules of evidence, may provide that proof of a particular fact, or of several facts taken collectively, shall be prima facie evidence of another fact when there is some rational connection between the fact proved and the ultimate fact presumed. The legislative presumption is invalid when it is entirely arbitrary, or creates an invidious discrimination, or operates to deprive a party of a reasonable opportunity to present the pertinent facts in his defense.

   1931, Bandini Petroleum Co. v. Superior Court, 284 U.S. 8, 18–19

   However, is it not true that within the preferred or official territory there are certain discriminations? For instance, are there not certain States in New England that suffer from certain discriminations, in comparison with other States in that official territory?

   1939, United States. U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on interstate commerce, Freight-rate Discriminations, page 49

   Many sincere white people in the South privately oppose segregation and discrimination, but they are apprehensive lest they be publicly condemned.

   1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., “Transformed Nonconformist”, in Strength to Love, New York: Pocket Books, published 1964, →OCLC, page 13

3. uncountableThe quality of being discriminating; acute discernment, especially in matters of good taste.First known use 18th c.

   Near-synonym: tastefulness

   5 more examples

   You are a man of discrimination,” said Qunk, “I admire that girl a little myself, and, entre nous, I think that I'm a bit of a favourite in that quarter.”

   1863, Alfred Gladstone, The Man of the Hour: A Tale of Real Life - Volume 2, page 128

   Take heed, then, lest, while you plume yourselves on your superior wisdom and discrimination, the Great Captain does not arraign you before his court-martial on the charge of blood-guiltiness.

   1881, C. F. Hull, Shadows of good things to come; or, the gospel in Ruth, page 42

   These differences amount to a discrimination by the animal in favour of calcium and against strontium and barium.

   1963, David Paton Cuthbertson, Progress in Nutrition and Allied Sciences, page 238

   In the vocabulary of Madison Avenue, the man of discrimination is one who knows a fine set of luggage when he sees it.

   1996, Eknath Easwaran, Seeing with the Eyes of Love, page 106

   Furthermore, holding the view that the jhānas are in conflict with discrimination and wisdom, one might argue that this quality cannot be developed and sustained when one attains the jhānas.

   2017, Keren Arbel, Early Buddhist Meditation, page 106

   Synonyms: tastefulness

In a sentence

Have you felt the weight of the considerations which have been presented, in order to show the importance of discrimination on the subject of revealed truth?

1846, Henry Hollis, Christian Discrimination; Or, A Discourse on the Things in Religion which Differ, page 86

Where it comes from

1. Latindiscrīminātiō, discrīminātiōnem
2. Englishdiscrimination

Learned borrowing from Latin discrīminātiō, discrīminātiōnem, the action noun to discrīminō, discrīmināre (“distinguish”). Equivalent to discriminate + -ion. In English use from the 17th century.

First known use: early 17th c.