prejudice
Syllables: prej·u·dice/ˈpɹɛd͡ʒədɪs/
prejudice noun: an adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge of the facts. Also the pronunciation spelling of prejudiced.
Noun
prejudice (countable and uncountable, plural prejudices)
- An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge of the facts.
- Many of the inhabitants of our Eastern States refuse to eat Squirrels of any kind, from some prejudice or other; but we can assure our readers that the flesh of this species, and many others, is both tender and well-flavoured, and when nicely broiled, does not require a hunter’s appetite to...1846, John James Audubon, John Bachman, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America
- Though often misled by prejudice and passion, he was emphatically an honest man.1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and...
- A preconception, any preconceived opinion or feeling, whether positive or negative.
- Morality is but a prejudice.
- An irrational hostile attitude, fear or hatred towards a particular group, race or religion.
- I am free of all prejudices. I hate everyone equally.
- "I did not thoroughly understand what you were telling your brother," cried Emma, "about your friend Mr. Graham's intending to have a bailiff from Scotland, to look after his new estate. But will it answer? Will not the old prejudice be too strong?"1816, Jane Austen, Emma
- Knowledge formed in advance; foresight, presaging.
- […] the first did in the forepart sit, / That nought mote hinder his quicke preiudize: / He had a sharpe foresight, and working wit […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- Mischief; hurt; damage; injury; detriment.
- England and France might, through their amity, / Breed him some prejudice.1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio)...
- For Pens, so usefull for Scholars to note the remarkables they read, with an impression easily deleble without prejudice to the Book.a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC
Verb
prejudice (third-person singular simple present prejudices, present participle prejudicing, simple past and past participle prejudiced)
- To have a negative impact on (someone's position, chances etc.).
- To cause prejudice in; to bias the mind of.
Also used as
prejudice is also the pronunciation spelling of prejudiced.
prejudice meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
prejudice in Hindi
- adverse judgement formed beforehand
- पूर्वाग्रह pūrvāgrah, तअस्सुब taassub
- any preconceived opinion
- पूर्वाग्रह pūrvāgrah
prejudice in Tamil
- தப்பெண்ணம், தப்பெண்ணம் காட்டுதல், தப்பெண்ணம் செய்ய
prejudice in Marathi
- पूर्वग्रह, पूर्वग्रहवादी, पूर्वग्रह साधणे
prejudice in Urdu
- adverse judgement formed beforehand
- تَعَصُّب ta'assub
More languagesFewer languages
- prejudice in Telugu
- పూర్వగ్రహం, పక్షపాతానికి
- prejudice in Malayalam
- മുൻവിധി
- prejudice in Kannada
- ಪೂರ್ವಗ್ರಹ, ಪೂರ್ವಾಗ್ರಹ, ಪೂರ್ವಗ್ರಹಕ್ಕೆ
- prejudice in Punjabi
- ਪੱਖਪਾਤ
- prejudice in Gujarati
- પૂર્વગ્રહ, પૂર્વગ્રહયુક્તતા
- prejudice in Nepali
- पूर्वाग्रह, पूर्वग्रह
- prejudice in Tagalog
- prehuwisyo
- prejudice in Arabic
- إِجْحَاف ʔijḥāf, تَحَامُل taḥāmul, تَحَيُّز taḥayyuz
- prejudice in Malay
- prejudis, prasangka
- prejudice in Indonesian
- prasangka
- prejudice in Thai
- อคติ à-ká-dtì, อุปาทาน ù-bpaa-taan, ความลำเอียง kwaam-lam-iiang
- prejudice in Vietnamese
- định kiến
- prejudice in Myanmar
- ဘက်လိုက်မှု bhakluikhmu.
Examples of prejudice in a sentence
- for no injury is thereby done to any one, no prejudice to another man's goods1702, John Locke, translated by W. Popple, A Letter concerning Toleration […] :
- By his Letter it appear’d, there was a secret Scheme on foot to the Prejudice of Hamilton, (Suppos’d to be then coming over with us,) and that Keith was concern’d in it with Riddlesden. [...]1793, Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, §20:
Synonyms of prejudice
- bigotry
- bias
- chauvinism
- clannishness
- discrimination
- inequality
- inequity
- intolerance
- jaundiced eye
- narrow-mindedness
2 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of prejudice
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | prejudices |
| alternative form (obsolete) | præjudice |
| alternative abbreviation (obsolete) | p͛judice |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | prejudices |
| present participle | prejudicing |
| past participle | prejudiced |
| past | prejudiced |
Origin of prejudice
From Middle English prejudice, from Old French prejudice, derived from Latin praeiūdicium (“previous judgment or damage”), from prae- (“before”) + iūdicium (“judgment”).
Words formed from prejudice
Phrases with prejudice
Questions about prejudice
- What does prejudice mean?
- Prejudice means an adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge of the facts.
- What is prejudice in Hindi?
- Prejudice in Hindi is पूर्वाग्रह (pūrvāgrah), तअस्सुब (taassub). See Prejudice meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use prejudice in a sentence?
- for no injury is thereby done to any one, no prejudice to another man's goods
- What part of speech is prejudice?
- Prejudice can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce prejudice?
- Prejudice is pronounced /ˈpɹɛd͡ʒədɪs/.
- What is the plural of prejudice?
- The plural of prejudice is prejudices.
Words near prejudice in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: prejudice (page history and authors); prejudice (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prejudice (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prejudice (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prejudice (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prejudice (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prejudice (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prejudice (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prejudice (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-prejudice.ogg.
Cite this entry: “prejudice.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prejudice. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.