dis·crim·i·na·tion

[dih-skrim-uh-ney-shuhn]
noun
1.
an act or instance of discriminating, or of making a distinction.
2.
treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.
3.
the power of making fine distinctions; discriminating judgment: She chose the colors with great discrimination.
4.
Archaic. something that serves to differentiate.
Origin:
1640–50; < Latin discrīminātiōn- (stem of discrīminātiō) a distinguishing. See discriminate, -ion

Related forms
dis·crim·i·na·tion·al, adjective
an·ti·dis·crim·i·na·tion, adjective
non·dis·crim·i·na·tion, noun
pre·dis·crim·i·na·tion, noun
self-dis·crim·i·na·tion, noun

Synonyms
3. discernment, taste, acumen, perception.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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00:10
Discrimination is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
discrimination (dɪˌskrɪmɪˈneɪʃən) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n
1.  unfair treatment of a person, racial group, minority, etc; action based on prejudice
2.  subtle appreciation in matters of taste
3.  the ability to see fine distinctions and differences
4.  electronics the selection of a signal having a particular frequency, amplitude, phase, etc, effected by the elimination of other signals by means of a discriminator
 
discrimi'national
 
—adj

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

discrimination
1640s, "the making of distinctions," from L. discriminationem, noun of action from discriminare (see discriminate). Especially in a prejudicial way, based on race, 1866, Amer.Eng. Meaning "discernment" is from 1814.
"It especially annoys me when racists are accused of 'discrimination.' The ability to discriminate is a precious facility; by judging all members of one 'race' to be the same, the racist precisely shows himself incapable of discrimination." [Christopher Hitchens]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

discrimination

in psychology, the ability to perceive and respond to differences among stimuli. It is considered a more advanced form of learning than generalization (q.v.), the ability to perceive similarities, although animals can be trained to discriminate as well as to generalize.

Learn more about discrimination with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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Example sentences
In our own day the same discrimination is exercised by all writers of sound
  taste.
Regional and bilateral deals are based on discrimination.
People from the countryside who move to the city get discrimination from city
  people.
They complained of a general pattern of discrimination in pay and promotions.
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