prejudice

See also: préjudice

English

Alternative forms

• præjudice (obsolete)
• p͛judice (abbreviation, obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English prejudice, from Old French prejudice, from Latin praeiūdicium (“previous judgment or damage”), from prae- (“before”) + iūdicium (“judgment”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛd͡ʒədɪs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: prej‧u‧dice

Noun

prejudice (countable and uncountable, plural prejudices)

1. (countable) An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge of the facts.
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 7, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     Though often misled by prejudice and passion, he was emphatically an honest man.

2. (countable) A preconception, any preconceived opinion or feeling, whether positive or negative.

   Morality is but a prejudice.

3. (countable) An irrational hostile attitude, fear or hatred towards a particular group, race or religion.

   I am free of all prejudices. I hate everyone equally.

4. (obsolete) Knowledge formed in advance; foresight, presaging.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     […] the first did in the forepart sit, / That nought mote hinder his quicke preiudize: / He had a sharpe foresight, and working wit […]

5. (chiefly obsolete) Mischief; hurt; damage; injury; detriment.
   • 1793, Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin‎^[1], §20:

     We both of us happen’d to know, as well as the Stationer, that Riddlesden the Attorney, was a very Knave. He had half ruin’d Miss Read’s Father by drawing him in to be bound for him. By his Letter it appear’d, there was a secret Scheme on foot to the Prejudice of Hamilton, (Suppos’d to be then coming over with us,) and that Keith was concern’d in it with Riddlesden. [...]

   • 1702, John Locke, translated by W. Popple, A Letter concerning Toleration […] :

     for no injury is thereby done to any one, no prejudice to another man's goods

   • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     England and France might, through their amity, / Breed him some prejudice.

   • a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC:

     For Pens, so usefull for Scholars to note the remarkables they read, with an impression easily deleble without prejudice to the Book.

Derived terms

• (law) with prejudice – precluding subsequent action
• (law) without prejudice – without affecting a legal interest
• in prejudice of – to the detriment or injury of
• to the prejudice of – with resulting harm to
• with extreme prejudice – with lethal force
  • terminate with extreme prejudice
• prejudicious
• self-prejudice

Related terms

• misprejudiced
• prejudge
• prejudicate

Translations

adverse judgement formed beforehand

• Albanian: tangë f
• Armenian: նախապաշարմունք (hy) (naxapašarmunkʿ)
• Azerbaijani: qərəz (az)
• Bashkir: хөрәфәт (xörəfət)
• Belarusian: прадузя́тасць f (praduzjátascʹ)
• Bulgarian: предразсъдък (bg) m (predrazsǎdǎk)
• Catalan: prejudici (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 成見／成见 (zh) (chéngjiàn), 偏見／偏见 (zh) (piānjiàn)

• Czech: předsudek (cs) m
• Danish: fordom c
• Dutch: vooroordeel (nl) n
• Esperanto: antaŭjuĝo sg
• Estonian: eelarvamus
• Finnish: ennakkoluulo (fi)
• French: préjugé (fr) m
• German: Vorurteil (de) n, Voreingenommenheit (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐍉𐌼𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 f (faurdōmeins)
• Greek: προκατάληψη (el) f (prokatálipsi)

  Ancient: πρόκριμα n (prókrima)

• Hindi: पूर्वाग्रह m (pūrvāgrah), तअस्सुब (hi) (taassub)
• Hungarian: előítélet (hu)
• Indonesian: prasangka (id)
• Italian: pregiudizio (it) m
• Japanese: 偏見 (ja) (へんけん, henken), 僻見 (ja) (へきけん, hekiken), 先入観 (ja) (せんにゅうかん, sennyūkan)
• Korean: 편견 (ko) (pyeon'gyeon)
• Latvian: aizspriedums m
• Lithuanian: išankstinis nusistatymas m
• Macedonian: предрасуда f (predrasuda)
• Malay: prejudis
• Norwegian: fordom (no) m
• Persian: پیشداوری (pišdâvari)
• Polish: uprzedzenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: preconceito (pt) m
• Romanian: prejudecată (ro) f
• Russian: предубежде́ние (ru) n (predubeždénije), предрассу́док (ru) m (predrassúdok), предвзя́тость (ru) f (predvzjátostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: predrasuda (sh) f, предрасуда f
• Slovak: predsudok m
• Spanish: prejuicio (es) m
• Swedish: fördom (sv) c
• Turkish: önyargı (tr)
• Ukrainian: упере́дження n (uperédžennja)
• Urdu: تَعَصُّب (ta'assub)

any preconceived opinion

• Bulgarian: предубеждение (bg) n (predubeždenie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: předsudek (cs) m
• Danish: fordom c
• Dutch: vooroordeel (nl) n
• Esperanto: antaŭjuĝo sg
• Finnish: ennakkokäsitys (fi)
• French: préjugé (fr) m, idée préconçue f
• German: vorgefasste Meinung f, Vorurteil (de) n
• Hungarian: elfogultság (hu)
• Japanese: 先入観 (ja) (せんにゅうかん, sennyūkan)
• Latvian: iepriekšēja noskaņošanās f pl, aizspriedums m
• Lithuanian: išankstinis nusistatymas m
• Norwegian: fordom (no) m
• Portuguese: prejulgamento m, pressuposição (pt) f, preconceito (pt) m
• Romanian: prejudecată (ro) f
• Russian: предубежде́ние (ru) n (predubeždénije), предрассу́док (ru) m (predrassúdok)
• Serbo-Croatian: предрасуда f, predrasuda (sh) f
• Slovak: predsudok m
• Spanish: prejuicio (es) m

irrational hostile attitude

• Danish: fordom c
• Finnish: vihamielinen ennakkoasenne, (vihamielinen) ennakkoluulo (fi), ennakkoluuloisuus (fi)
• German: Vorurteil (de) n
• Greek: εμπάθεια (el) f (empátheia)
• Hungarian: előítélet (hu)
• Portuguese: preconceito (pt) m, intolerância (pt) f
• Serbo-Croatian: предрасуда f, predrasuda (sh) f

damage caused

• Bulgarian: вреда (bg) f (vreda)
• French: préjudice (fr) m
• German: Schaden (de) m
• Portuguese: prejuízo (pt) m
• Romanian: prejudiciu (ro) n, daună (ro) f
• Russian: вред (ru) m (vred), уще́рб (ru) m (uščérb)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} prejuicio (es) m

Verb

prejudice (third-person singular simple present prejudices, present participle prejudicing, simple past and past participle prejudiced)

1. (transitive) To have a negative impact on (someone's position, chances etc.).
2. (transitive) To cause prejudice in; to bias the mind of.

Related terms

• prejudge
• prejudiced

Translations

to have a negative impact

• Finnish: vahingoittaa (fi), vaarantaa (fi)
• Portuguese: prejudicar (pt)
• Romanian: prejudicia (ro)
• Spanish: perjudicar (es)

to cause prejudice

• Finnish: tehdä ennakkoluuloiseksi, aiheuttaa ennakkoluuloja
• Portuguese: prejudicar (pt)
• Romanian: dăuna (ro), prejudicia (ro)
• Spanish: prejuiciar (es)

Adjective

prejudice

1. Misspelling of prejudiced.

See also

• bias
• discrimination
• hatred
• racism
• stereotype

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin praeiudicium.

Noun

prejudice oblique singular, f (oblique plural prejudices, nominative singular prejudice, nominative plural prejudices)

1. (chiefly law) harm; damage
2. (chiefly law) prejudgment; prejudice

Descendants

• English: prejudice
• French: préjudice