verb · academic
discriminate
UK/dɪˈskrɪmɪneɪt/US/dɪˈskrɪməˌneɪt/dis·CRIM·i·nate
to recognise or show the difference between things; to treat people unfairly because of a characteristic
Examples
“The test can discriminate between native and non-native pronunciation patterns.”
“Policy should ensure employers do not discriminate against applicants on the basis of age.”
“It is important to discriminate meaningful trends from random fluctuations in the data.”
Band 8 sentence
“It is important for policymakers to discriminate between short-term fluctuations and long-term trends when designing economic interventions.”
Collocations
- discriminate between
- discriminate against
- discriminate meaningful patterns
Word family
Common mistakes
They discriminate immigrants.→They discriminate against immigrants.
The test discriminates the two conditions.→The test discriminates between the two conditions.
Say it for a higher band
5notice→6distinguish→7+discriminate
Synonyms
distinguish
differentiate
Easily confused
distinguish
“Researchers can distinguish between correlation and causation.”
Related words
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In Sublist 6
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