different between discriminate vs discriminant

English

Etymology

From Latin discriminatus, past participle of discriminare (“to divide, separate, distinguish”), from discrimen (“a space between, division, separation, distinction”), from discerno (“to divide, separate, distinguish, discern”); see discern, discreet, discrete. Compare crime.

Pronunciation

• (verb) IPA^(key): /d?s?k??m?ne?t/
• (adjective) IPA^(key): /d?s?k??m?n?t/

Verb

discriminate (third-person singular simple present discriminates, present participle discriminating, simple past and past participle discriminated)

1. (intransitive) To make distinctions.

2. (intransitive, construed with against) To make decisions based on prejudice.

3. (transitive) To set apart as being different; to mark as different; to separate from another by discerning differences; to distinguish.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Cowper to this entry?)

Usage notes

Due to the strong pejorative connotations of sense of “decide based on prejudice”, care should be taken in using the term in the sense “distinguish, make distinctions”, and this sense is primarily used in formal discourse; synonyms are generally used instead.

Synonyms

• (make distinctions): distinguish, differentiate; see also Thesaurus:tell apart
• (make decisions based on prejudice): disfavor

Antonyms

• (make decisions based on prejudice): favor

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

discriminate (comparative more discriminate, superlative most discriminate)

1. Having the difference marked; distinguished by certain tokens.

   • Nevertheless it is certain, that oisters, and cockles, and mussels, which move not, have no discriminate sex

Further reading

• discriminate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• discriminate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Translations

Italian

Verb

discriminate

1. second-person plural present indicative of discriminare
2. second-person plural imperative of discriminare
3. feminine plural of discriminato

Anagrams

• dimenticarsi

Latin

Verb

discr?min?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of discr?min?

English

Noun

discriminant (plural discriminants)

1. (algebra) An expression that gives information about the roots of a polynomial; for example, the expression D = b² - 4ac determines whether the roots of the quadratic equation ax² + bx + c = 0 are real and distinct (D > 0), real and equal (D = 0) or complex (D < 0).
2. (geometry) The invariant (on the vector space of forms of degree d in n variables) that vanishes exactly when the corresponding hypersurface in P^n-1 is singular.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

discriminant (comparative more discriminant, superlative most discriminant)

1. Serving to discriminate.

Catalan

Verb

discriminant

1. present participle of discriminar

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin discr?min?ns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?s.kri.mi?n?nt/
• Hyphenation: dis?cri?mi?nant
• Rhymes: -?nt

Noun

discriminant m (plural discriminanten, diminutive discriminantje n)

1. (algebra) discriminant

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dis.k?i.mi.n??/

Noun

discriminant m (plural discriminants)

1. (mathematics) discriminant

Further reading

• “discriminant” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Verb

discr?minant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of discr?min?

Romanian

Etymology

From French discriminant.

Adjective

discriminant m or n (feminine singular discriminant?, masculine plural discriminan?i, feminine and neuter plural discriminante)

1. discriminant

Declension