Comment on Why is propaganda frowned upon?
c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world 9 months agointransitive verb To make a clear distinction; distinguish. “discriminate among the options available.”
To make distinctions on the basis of class or category without regard to individual merit, especially to show prejudice on the basis of ethnicity, gender, or a similar social factor. “was accused of discriminating against women; discriminated in favor of his cronies.”
To perceive or notice the distinguishing features of; recognize as distinct. “unable to discriminate colors.”
Seems like it’s primary use is to distinguish between things.
pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online 9 months ago
The Marriam Webster dictionary disagrees.
c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Fascinating, because I just looked it up on there in addition to the English heritage dictionary which I originally used. The specific use case of discriminate being used in a social prejudice sense was even closer to the bottom than in my original post. So your specific dictionary doesn’t even support your claim, it’s predominantly used to describe being able to identify differences in a set of items.
MW dictionary:
a : to mark or perceive the distinguishing or peculiar features of Depth perception may be defined as the ability to appreciate or discriminate the third dimension … —H. G. Armstrong b : DISTINGUISH, DIFFERENTIATE discriminate hundreds of colors 2 : to distinguish by discerning or exposing differences : to recognize or identify as separate and distinct discriminate right from wrong especially : to distinguish from another like object discriminate the individual voices in the choir intransitive verb
1 a : to make a distinction discriminate among historical sources discriminates between literary fiction and popular fiction b : to use good judgment 2 : to make a difference in treatment or favor on a basis other than individual merit discriminate in favor of your friends discriminate against a certain nationality