discriminatory
discriminatory Lexical Profile
discriminatory Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Making or showing an unfair or prejudicial distinction between different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, sex, or disability.
"The labor union filed a lawsuit challenging the company's discriminatory hiring practices."
Serving to distinguish, differentiate, or recognize subtle differences between things (especially in technical, statistical, or economic contexts).
"The diagnostic test has high discriminatory power in separating benign conditions from malignant ones."
Word Nuance & Usage
Do not confuse 'discriminatory' with 'discriminating': 'discriminatory' almost always carries a negative connotation of unfair prejudice or bias, whereas 'discriminating' is a positive term describing someone with refined taste and good judgment.
• Rhymes for discriminatory
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in the early 19th century from the verb 'discriminate' plus the suffix '-ory', ultimately deriving from Latin discriminatus, the past participle of discriminare ('to divide or separate'), from discrimen ('distinction or difference').