6

I am looking for a stronger word than "discrimination", which somehow remains ambiguous because of its multiple meanings. I am especially interested in referring to discrimination in the sense of partiality and prejudice towards certain demographic categories. The word "discrimination" could be used in combination with an adjective such as "racial", but again that would be to specific, because it would omit discrimination based on other categories such as religion, gender or culture. What I would require is a word describing the thought process by which one purposely, unfairly and hatefully excludes an entire population from courtesy and tolerance one would apply to oneself.

5 Answers 5

13

Bigotry (“Intolerance or prejudice, especially religious or racial; discrimination (against); the characteristic qualities of a bigot”), is a term commonly used for such a “thought process”. Also note the definitions of intolerance: “Not tolerant; close-minded about new or different ideas. indisposed to tolerate contrary opinions or beliefs; impatient of dissent or opposition; denying or refusing the right of private opinion or choice in others; inclined to persecute or suppress dissent” and prejudice: “An adverse judgement or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge of the facts” and “Any preconceived opinion or feeling, whether positive or negative” and “An irrational hostile attitude, fear or hatred towards a particular group, race or religion”.

You may also find words suggested in the following questions useful.
What are antonyms of tolerant or synonyms of cautious,
Reaching a conclusion before formulating an argument,
Single word for people who are like a frog in the well,
Is there a word for preparation with a negative connotation,
What would you call a person who doesnt like questions being asked of them,
Is there a name for someone who calls someone else what he himself is,
What is a good term for someone who refuses to debate an issue ab initio.

1
  • Thanks for your thorough answer! "Is there a name for someone who calls someone else what he himself is", how beautiful is that :) Sep 16, 2012 at 12:49
1

use anti- ,if you have a nationality/ethnicity called X,you could say "anti-X".

0

Segregation would fit, in general.

Possibly refined with an epithet to further precise how categories are defined (e.g. "racial segregation", "sex segregation", etc).

0

Consider demonization. The verb demonize is defined as

to try to make someone or a group of people seem completely evil

0

To answer "Is there a name for someone who calls someone else what he himself is", you could use self-deluding or self-denying. Thus, if the object word is "bigot" then you would riposte with "self-deluding/denying bigot".

4
  • This does not appear to be an answer to this question. Not sure why it's showing up here.
    – Tragicomic
    Oct 2, 2015 at 2:22
  • Goodness me - Tragicomic is a bit late to this party, and with a comment that is somewhat mean but also as a result of their lack of diligence in not noticing that the the questioner posed a second question, a question I could only answer by adding an answer not commenting, since I don't have enough reputation points to comment on others' replies.
    – jimalton
    Oct 3, 2015 at 16:58
  • Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound rude/mean. I honestly thought you had seen some other question and posted the answer here by mistake. I can't seem to find the second question in the OP, and the question doesn't appear to be edited. I'm confused. :-(
    – Tragicomic
    Oct 4, 2015 at 1:13
  • I think I figured this out. Your answer is actually to the following completely different question: english.stackexchange.com/questions/40462/…, and not to the question on this page. That is what confused me. Perhaps you could post this answer there. .
    – Tragicomic
    Oct 4, 2015 at 3:10

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.