discriminatory

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /dɪˈskrɪmɪnəˌtɔri/ UK /dɪˈskrɪmɪnətəri/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
making unjust distinctions, especially on the basis of group

The court struck down the discriminatory hiring policy.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · making unjust distinctions,... prejudiced biased unfair partialinequitableunjust

Opposites

fair impartial unbiased equitablenondiscriminatory

Word family

Derived forms discriminatorily

Related forms discriminate discrimination discriminating discern

Etymology

From discriminate + -ory; from Latin discriminare ('to distinguish, divide'), from discrimen ('distinction'), from discernere ('to distinguish'), from dis- ('apart') + cernere ('to sift').

discriminare Latin cernere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# discriminatory

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /dɪˈskrɪmɪnəˌtɔri/
**IPA (UK):** /dɪˈskrɪmɪnətəri/

## Meanings
1. making unjust distinctions, especially on the basis of group

## Examples
- The court struck down the discriminatory hiring policy.

## Synonyms
- prejudiced
- biased
- unfair
- partial
- inequitable
- unjust

## Antonyms
- fair
- impartial
- unbiased
- equitable
- nondiscriminatory

## Derived Forms
- discriminatorily

## Related Forms
- discriminate
- discrimination
- discriminating
- discern

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: discriminare
- Root: cernere

## Etymology
From discriminate + -ory; from Latin discriminare ('to distinguish, divide'), from discrimen ('distinction'), from discernere ('to distinguish'), from dis- ('apart') + cernere ('to sift').

## AI Etymology
Discriminatory is from discriminate + -ory; from Latin discriminare ('to distinguish, divide'), from discrimen ('distinction'), from discernere ('to distinguish'), from dis- ('apart') + cernere ('to sift'). The ancestry passes through Latin discriminare and Latin cernere. The prefix dis- often marks separation, reversal, or negation in Latin and English formations, helping to explain the word's surface structure; the suffix -or marks an agent or doer, so the English form is shaped by recognizable word formation as well as by its inherited or borrowed base. In present use as an adjective, it means "making unjust distinctions, especially on the basis of group", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. Related words include discriminate, discrimination, discriminating, and discern; derived forms include discriminatorily.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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