Adjacent Words

Prejudice definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PREJ'UDICE, n. [L. prejudicium; proe and judico.]
1. Prejudgment; an opinion or decision of mind, formed without due examination of the facts or arguments which are necessary to a just and impartial determination. It is used in a good or bad sense. Innumerable are the prejudices of education; we are accustomed to believe what we are taught, and to receive opinions from others without examining the grounds by which they can be supported. A man has strong prejudices in favor of his country or his party, or the church in which he has been educated; and often our prejudices are unreasonable. A judge should disabuse himself of prejudice in favor of either party in a suit.
My comfort is that their manifest prejudice to my cause will render their judgment of less authority.
2. A previous bent or bias of mind for or against any person or thing; prepossession.
There is an unaccountable prejudice to projectors of all kinds.
3. Mischief; hurt; damage; injury. Violent factions are a prejudice to the authority of the sovereign.
How plain this abuse is, and what prejudice it does to the understanding of the sacred Scriptures.
[This is a sense of the word too well established to be condemned.]
PREJ'UDICE, v.t. To prepossess with unexamined opinions, or opinions formed without due knowledge of the facts and circumstances attending the question; to bias the mind by hasty and incorrect notions, and give it an unreasonable bent to one side or other of a cause.
Suffer not any beloved study to prejudice your mind so far as to despise all other learning.
1. To obstruct or injure by prejudices, or an undue previous bias of the mind; or to hurt; to damage; to diminish; to impair; in a very general sense. The advocate who attempts to prove too much, may prejudice his cause.
I am not to prejudice the cause of my fellow poets, though I abandon my own defense.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation [syn: bias, prejudice, preconception] v
1: disadvantage by prejudice
2: influence (somebody's) opinion in advance [syn: prejudice, prepossess]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin praejudicium previous judgment, damage, from prae- + judicium judgment — more at judicial Date: 13th century 1. injury or damage resulting from some judgment or action of another in disregard of one's rights; especially detriment to one's legal rights or claims 2. a. (1) preconceived judgment or opinion (2) an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge b. an instance of such judgment or opinion c. an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics Synonyms: see predilection II. transitive verb (-diced; -dicing) Date: 15th century 1. to injure or damage by some judgment or action (as in a case of law) 2. to cause to have prejudice

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a a preconceived opinion. b (foll. by against, in favour of) bias or partiality. 2 harm or injury that results or may result from some action or judgement (to the prejudice of). --v.tr. 1 impair the validity or force of (a right, claim, statement, etc.). 2 (esp. as prejudiced adj.) cause (a person) to have a prejudice. Phrases and idioms: without prejudice (often foll. by to) without detriment (to any existing right or claim). Etymology: ME f. OF prejudice f. L praejudicium (as PRAE-, judicium judgement)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Prejudice Prej"u*dice, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prejudiced; p. pr. & vb. n. Prejudicing.] [Cf. F. pr['e]judicier. See Prejudice, n.] 1. To cause to have prejudice; to prepossess with opinions formed without due knowledge or examination; to bias the mind of, by hasty and incorrect notions; to give an unreasonable bent to, as to one side or the other of a cause; as, to prejudice a critic or a juryman. Suffer not any beloved study to prejudice your mind so far as to despise all other learning. --I. Watts 2. To obstruct or injure by prejudices, or by previous bias of the mind; hence, generally, to hurt; to damage; to injure; to impair; as, to prejudice a good cause. Seek how may prejudice the foe. --Shak

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Prejudice Prej"u*dice, n. [F. pr['e]judice, L. praejudicium; prae before + judicium judgment. See Prejudicate, Judicial.] 1. Foresight. [Obs.] Naught might hinder his quick prejudize. --Spenser. 2. An opinion or judgment formed without due examination; prejudgment; a leaning toward one side of a question from other considerations than those belonging to it; an unreasonable predilection for, or objection against, anything; especially, an opinion or leaning adverse to anything, without just grounds, or before sufficient knowledge. Though often misled by prejudice and passion, he was emphatically an honest man. --Macaulay. 3. (Law) A bias on the part of judge, juror, or witness which interferes with fairness of judgment. 4. Mischief; hurt; damage; injury; detriment. --Locke. England and France might, through their amity, Breed him some prejudice. --Shak. Syn: Prejudgment; prepossession; bias; harm; hurt; damage; detriment; mischief; disadvantage.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(prejudices, prejudicing, prejudiced) 1. Prejudice is an unreasonable dislike of a particular group of people or things, or a preference for a one group of people or things over another. There is widespread prejudice against workers over 45... He said he hoped the Swiss authorities would investigate the case thoroughly and without prejudice. N-VAR: oft supp N, N against n 2. If you prejudice someone or something, you influence them so that they are unfair in some way. I think your South American youth has prejudiced you... He claimed his case would be prejudiced if it became known he was refusing to answer questions. VERB: V n, V n 3. If someone prejudices another person's situation, they do something which makes it worse than it should be. (FORMAL) Her study was not in any way intended to prejudice the future development of the college... VERB: V n 4. If you take an action without prejudice to an existing situation, your action does not change or harm that situation. (FORMAL) We accept the outcome of the inquiry, without prejudice to the unsettled question of territorial waters. PHRASE: PHR n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Prejudgment, prepossession (against), bias, unfairness, preconception, partiality. 2. Harm, mischief, hurt, detriment, loss, injury, damage, disadvantage, impairment. II. v. a. 1. Bias, warp, prepossess unfavorably, influence against. 2. Injure, damage, hurt, impair, diminish.

Moby Thesaurus

a thing for, abuse, affinity, afflict, aggrieve, angle, apartheid, aptitude, aptness, bag, befoul, bend, bent, bewitch, bias, bigotry, blemish, blight, cast, chosen kind, color, conatus, condemn, conduciveness, corrupt, cronyism, crucify, cup of tea, curse, damage, defile, delight, deprave, despoil, destroy, detriment, diathesis, disadvantage, discrimination, dispose, disposition, disserve, distort, distress, do a mischief, do evil, do ill, do wrong, do wrong by, doom, drawback, druthers, eagerness, envenom, fancy, favor, favoritism, feeling for, forejudgment, get into trouble, handicap, harass, harm, hex, hurt, impair, impairment, inclination, incline, inequality, infect, influence, injure, injury, intolerance, jaundice, jaundiced eye, jinx, leaning, liability, liking, loss, loss of ground, male chauvinism, maltreat, mar, menace, mischief, mistreat, molest, one-sidedness, outrage, parti pris, partialism, partiality, particular choice, partisanship, penchant, persecute, personal choice, play havoc with, play hob with, poison, pollute, preapprehension, preconception, preconclusion, preconsideration, predecision, predetermination, predilection, predispose, predisposition, preference, prejudge, prejudgment, prejudication, prejudice against, prejudice the issue, premature judgment, prenotion, prepossess, prepossession, presumption, presupposal, presupposition, presurmise, probability, proclivity, proneness, propensity, racialism, racism, readiness, savage, scathe, sensitivity to, sexism, skew, slant, soft spot, spoil, step backward, style, susceptibility, sway, taint, tarnish, taste, tendency, thing, threaten, torment, torture, tropism, turn, twist, type, undetachment, undispassionateness, unfairness, violate, vitiate, warp, weakness, willingness, wound, wreak havoc on, wrong