MEANING
1. To recognize or distinguish relevant differences between things.
2. To treat someone disadvantageously on the basis of group membership or a personal characteristic.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- discriminate between tones
- discriminate details
On the page
She discriminated between the nearly identical tones.
He discriminated the details the copy had blurred.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- discriminate
- Past tense
- discriminated
- Past participle
- discriminated
- Present participle
- discriminating
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- discriminate
- Present continuous
- am/is/are discriminating
- Present perfect
- have/has discriminated
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been discriminating
- Past
- discriminated
- Past continuous
- was/were discriminating
- Past perfect
- had discriminated
- Past perfect continuous
- had been discriminating
- Future
- will discriminate
- Future continuous
- will be discriminating
- Future perfect
- will have discriminated
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been discriminating
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: discriminate; discriminates; discriminated; discriminated; discriminating Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: discriminates.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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