prejudice

Word family

• prejudiced
  adjectiveC1
• prejudicial
  adjectiveC2
• prejudicially
  adverbC2
• unprejudiced
  adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Prejudice is the broadest word here: it means an unfair opinion or feeling formed too early. Bias can be milder and may even be unconscious, so a manager may show bias without openly hating anyone. A stereotype is a fixed general idea about a group, such as thinking all teenagers are lazy. Bigotry is stronger than prejudice and suggests stubborn, hostile intolerance, often around race or religion. Discrimination is different again because it is action, not just belief: refusing to hire someone because of age is discrimination based on prejudice. A useful memory line is this: you can hold a prejudice, repeat a stereotype, show bias, or commit discrimination.

Etymology

Prejudice came into English through Old French from Latin 'praeiudicium', literally a judgment made beforehand. In Roman law it could refer to an earlier decision that affected a later case. From that idea of deciding too soon, English developed the modern sense of an unfair opinion formed before the facts are known, and later legal uses about harming rights or claims.