Discriminate vs Secern - What's the difference?
discriminate | secern |
To make distinctions.
To make decisions based on prejudice.
To set apart as being different; to mark as different; to separate from another by discerning differences; to distinguish.
* Barrow
Having the difference marked; distinguished by certain tokens.
To discriminate, distinguish
(medicine) To secrete
*{{quote-book
, author =
, title =
, year = 1734
, page = 46
, passage = Further, the joint-glands themselves grow rigid, and secern less of their proper humour.
}}
As verbs the difference between discriminate and secern
is that discriminate is to make distinctions while secern is to discriminate, distinguish.As an adjective discriminate
is having the difference marked; distinguished by certain tokens.discriminate
English
Verb
(en-verb)- Since he was colorblind he was unable to discriminate between the blue and green bottles.
- The law prohibits discriminating against people based on their skin color.
- (Cowper)
- To discriminate the goats from the sheep.
Usage notes
Due to the strong pejorative connotations of sense of “decide based on prejudice”, care should be taken in using the term in the sense “distinguish, make distinctions”, and this sense is primarily used in formal discourse; synonyms are generally used instead.Synonyms
(make distinctions) * distinguish * differentiateDerived terms
* discriminative * discriminatoryAdjective
(en adjective)- (Francis Bacon)