n.
1.
a. 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. tr.v. 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.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin praeidicium : prae-, pre- + idicium,judgment (from idex, idic-, judge; see deik- in Indo-European roots).]
Examples of Prejudice
# 1: If someone is walking in a secluded area in the night, and a group of senior citizens who are walking with canes in hand, come from the opposite side, the person will not feel threatened. However, if instead of senior citizens, three teenagers dressed in jeans and t-shirts with lots of metal chains around their neck are approaching from the other side, the person might feel threatened a bit, even without any kind of provocation from their end.
# 2: It is a general perception that people with mental illnesses are prone to violence. This perception has developed from the stereotypes portrayed in movies or written about in books, wherein a mentally ill person becomes violent and goes on a rampage. Although, there are a few isolated cases of mentally ill people, who have a tendency towards violence, yet, if we look at the statistics, they show that mentally ill people are no more violence prone than the normal people.
# 3: Human beings are categorized into a number of races, based on their geographical location, physical characteristics, culture, language and history. It is a social concept, not biological. For