All 4 Uses of
discriminate
in
A Prayer for Owen Meany
- And there were the same brown paper bags that I had used on the step by the back door; it was a little dangerous to leave the armadillo outside on the step, I thought, given the indiscriminate appetites of that certain Labrador retriever belonging to our neighbor Mr. Fish.†
p. 88.6 *indiscriminate = without recognition of differencesstandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in indiscriminate means not and reverses the meaning of discriminate. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- Dan Needham gave them what he could; to deny them outright would risk the charge they relished to make, and made often—that so-and-so was "discriminatory."†
p. 245.4 *discriminatory = in a manner that unfairly treats people of different groups differently
- THE CLIMATE OF THE SCHOOL IS BECOMING DISCRIMINATORY.†
p. 307.1
- Could a school of such a broadly based ethnic population tolerate this kind of "discrimination"?†
p. 386.2
Definitions:
-
(1)
(discriminate as in: suffered discrimination) to treat people of different groups differently -- especially unfair treatment due to race, religion or gender
-
(2)
(discriminate as in: discriminating taste) to recognize or perceive differences -- especially fine distinctions