prejudiced

adjective

prej·​u·​diced ˈpre-jə-dəst How to pronounce prejudiced (audio)
: resulting from or having a prejudice or bias for or especially against

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Prejudice: For or Against?

Although prejudice, with its connotations of intolerance , implies a negative bias, the word can be used in positive constructions:

I, too, appreciate projects that treat a difficult subject with rigor, although I'll confess to harboring a bit of prejudice toward thing-biographies.
Adam Baer, Harper's, May 2011

That's true for the participial adjective prejudiced as well:

“The question itself as posed in the survey obviously is prejudiced in favor of the program,” said Tod Story, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.
Neal Morton, Las Vegas Review Journal, 2 Aug. 2016

In negative constructions, prejudice and prejudiced often precede against:

Lee County Circuit Judge Jacob Walker on Tuesday ruled that claims of juror misconduct by former House Speaker Mike Hubbard failed to show that the jury was prejudiced against Hubbard.
Mike Cason, AL.com, 19 Oct. 2016

Examples of prejudiced in a Sentence

Most Americans deny being prejudiced against people of other races. I was prejudiced against the movie because of its title.
Recent Examples on the Web After one case where Sipowicz’s actions regarding Black suspects are both by the book and reflective of the detective’s prejudiced attitudes about race, Fancy takes Andy out for a meal at a local rib joint where the staff and all the other customers are Black. Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 21 Sep. 2023 People are prejudiced against each other for lots of reasons. Matt Wake | Mwake@al.com, al, 31 Aug. 2023 Pratt found an escape chute from a fractious family life and a prejudiced society in the theatre. Hazlitt, 6 Sep. 2023 Since then, Youtube claimed its augmentations resulted in at least 50 percent less watch time for racist, sexist, and otherwise prejudiced content via users’ recommendation feeds. Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 30 Aug. 2023 At another hearing after the remarks were made, the judge apologized to Liggins for losing his temper, saying he was frustrated with the many delays in the case, which had been pending since 2018, and was not prejudiced against Liggins. Michelle Watson, CNN, 4 Aug. 2023 Psychological quirks explain why humans consistently overestimate minority populations, but research suggests this inflated perception could lead to more prejudiced beliefs and could shed light on the rise of anti-trans legislation. Politifact Staff Writer, Dallas News, 17 July 2023 There is simply nothing to be strategically gained by uttering such an obviously prejudiced sentence. Monica Hesse, Washington Post, 6 Mar. 2023 This isn’t the first time that Republicans have sickeningly used a tragedy—one with very obvious political implications—to push their own prejudiced agenda. Tori Otten, The New Republic, 5 July 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'prejudiced.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1579, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of prejudiced was in 1579

Dictionary Entries Near prejudiced

Cite this Entry

“Prejudiced.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prejudiced. Accessed 1 Oct. 2023.

Legal Definition

prejudiced

adjective
prej·​u·​diced
ˈpre-jə-dəst
: resulting from or having a prejudice or bias for or especially against
alleged that the trial judge was prejudiced

More from Merriam-Webster on prejudiced

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