1a. An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts. b. A preconceived preference or idea. 2. The act or state of holding unreasonable preconceived judgments or convictions. See synonyms at predilection. 3. Irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, or religion. 4. Detriment or injury caused to a person by the preconceived, unfavorable conviction of another or others.
TRANSITIVE VERB:
Inflected forms: prej·u·diced, prej·u·dic·ing, prej·u·dic·es 1. To cause (someone) to judge prematurely and irrationally. See synonyms at bias. 2. To affect injuriously or detrimentally by a judgment or an act.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English, from Old French, from Latin praeidicium : prae-, pre- + idicium, judgment (from idex, idic-, judge; see deik- in Appendix I).
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dicium : prae-, pre- + i
