Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Prejudice
Prej′u-dice
,Noun.
1.
Foresight.
[Obs.]
Naught might hinder his quick
prejudize
. Spenser.
2.
An opinion or judgment formed without due examination; prejudgment; a leaning toward one side of a question from other considerations than those belonging to it; an unreasonable predilection for, or objection against, anything; especially, an opinion or leaning adverse to anything, without just grounds, or before sufficient knowledge.
Though often misled by
prejudice
and passion, he was emphatically an honest man. Macaulay.
3.
(Law)
A bias on the part of judge, juror, or witness which interferes with fairness of judgment.
4.
Mischief; hurt; damage; injury; detriment.
Locke.
England and France might, through their amity,
Breed him some
Breed him some
prejudice
. Shakespeare
Syn. – Prejudgment; prepossession; bias; harm; hurt; damage; detriment; mischief; disadvantage.
Prej′u-dice
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Prejudiced
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Prejudicing
.] 1.
To cause to have prejudice; to prepossess with opinions formed without due knowledge or examination; to bias the mind of, by hasty and incorrect notions; to give an unreasonable bent to, as to one side or the other of a cause;
as, to
. prejudice
a critic or a jurymanSuffer not any beloved study to
prejudice
your mind so far as to despise all other learning. I. Watts
2.
To obstruct or injure by prejudices, or by previous bias of the mind; hence, generally, to hurt; to damage; to injure; to impair;
as, to
. prejudice
a good causeSeek how may
prejudice
the foe. Shak
Webster 1828 Edition
Prejudice
PREJ'UDICE
,Noun.
1.
Prejudgment; an opinion or decision of mind, formed without due examination of the facts or arguments which are necessary to a just and impartial determination. It is used in a good or bad sense. Innumerable are the prejudices of education; we are accustomed to believe what we are taught, and to receive opinions from others without examining the grounds by which they can be supported. A man has strong prejudices in favor of his country or his party, or the church in which he has been educated; and often our prejudices are unreasonable. A judge should disabuse himself of prejudice in favor of either party in a suit. My comfort is that their manifest prejudice to my cause will render their judgment of less authority.
2.
A previous bent or bias of mind for or against any person or thing; prepossession. There is an unaccountable prejudice to projectors of all kinds.
3.
Mischief; hurt; damage; injury. Violent factions are a prejudice to the authority of the sovereign. How plain this abuse is, and what prejudice it does to the understanding of the sacred Scriptures.
[This is a sense of the word too well established to be condemned.]
PREJ'UDICE
,Verb.
T.
Suffer not any beloved study to prejudice your mind so far as to despise all other learning.
1.
To obstruct or injure by prejudices, or an undue previous bias of the mind; or to hurt; to damage; to diminish; to impair; in a very general sense. The advocate who attempts to prove too much, may prejudice his cause. I am not to prejudice the cause of my fellow poets, though I abandon my own defense.