DISCRIMINATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does discriminate mean? 

• DISCRIMINATE (adjective)
  The adjective DISCRIMINATE has 1 sense:

1. marked by the ability to see or make fine distinctions

  Familiarity information: DISCRIMINATE used as an adjective is very rare.

• DISCRIMINATE (verb)
  The verb DISCRIMINATE has 3 senses:

1. recognize or perceive the difference

2. treat differently on the basis of sex or race

3. distinguish

  Familiarity information: DISCRIMINATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISCRIMINATE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by the ability to see or make fine distinctions

Context example:

discriminate people

Also:

discriminating (showing or indicating careful judgment and discernment especially in matters of taste)

Antonym:

indiscriminate (not marked by fine distinctions)

• DISCRIMINATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they discriminate    ... he / she / it discriminates   
Past simple: discriminated   
Past participle: discriminated   
-ing form: discriminating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Recognize or perceive the difference

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

discriminate; know apart

Hypernyms (to "discriminate" is one way to...):

differentiate; distinguish; secern; secernate; separate; severalise; severalize; tell; tell apart (mark as different)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "discriminate"):

subtilize (mark fine distinctions and subtleties, as among words)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

discrimination (the cognitive process whereby two or more stimuli are distinguished)

discriminative (capable of making fine distinctions)

discriminator (a person who (or that which) differentiates)

discriminatory (capable of making fine distinctions)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Treat differently on the basis of sex or race

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

discriminate; separate; single out

Hypernyms (to "discriminate" is one way to...):

differentiate; distinguish; secern; secernate; separate; severalise; severalize; tell; tell apart (mark as different)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "discriminate"):

insulate; isolate (place or set apart)

hive off (remove from a group and make separate)

segregate (separate by race or religion; practice a policy of racial segregation)

redline (discriminate in selling or renting housing in certain areas of a neighborhood)

disadvantage; disfavor; disfavour (put at a disadvantage; hinder, harm)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

discrimination (unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis of prejudice)

discriminator (a person who (or that which) differentiates)

discriminatory (manifesting partiality)

discriminatory (being biased or having a belief or attitude formed beforehand)

discriminatory (containing or implying a slight or showing prejudice)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Distinguish

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

I could not discriminate the different tastes in this complicated dish

Hypernyms (to "discriminate" is one way to...):

discern; distinguish; make out; pick out; recognise; recognize; spot; tell apart (detect with the senses)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

discrimination (the cognitive process whereby two or more stimuli are distinguished)

discriminative; discriminatory (capable of making fine distinctions)

 Context examples 

Based on the test findings, the researchers calculated that humans can discriminate more than 1 trillion scents.

(Humans Can Identify More Than 1 Trillion Smells, NIH, US)

This allows the brain to discriminate between the predictable sounds that we have produced ourselves, and the less predictable sounds that are produced by other people.

(Talking to Ourselves And Voices in Our Heads, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A statistical technique used to determine which variables discriminate between two or more naturally groups and to determine whether groups differ with regard to the mean of a variable.

(Discriminant Function Analysis, NCI Thesaurus)

The process of producing an internal, conscious image through stimulating a sensory system; it involves the recognition that stimulation has occurred, and the ability to discriminate various aspects of the stimulus.

(Perception, NCI Thesaurus)

Pluto has been tutoring you to be discriminating with your time so you can accomplish much, and to exercise good judgment as you continue to rise to positions of influence.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

And yet even here we may discriminate.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I put out my hand to feel the dark mass before me: I discriminated the rough stones of a low wall—above it, something like palisades, and within, a high and prickly hedge.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Next, the sample is amplified using a PCR method that does not discriminate between non-methylated and methylated sequences.

(Bisulfite Sequencing, NCI Thesaurus)

An algorithm for assigning significance values to genes being tested for their ability to discriminate between microarray samples.

(Comparative Marker Selection, NCI Thesaurus)

Although NK cells do not express classical antigen receptors of the immunoglobulin gene family, such as the antibodies produced by B cells or the T cell receptor expressed by T cells, they are equipped with various receptors whose engagement allows them to discriminate between target and nontarget cells.

(Natural Killer Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)