Pre-jū'di-cāte1, v. i.
To form a judgment beforehand or without due examination. Sidney.
3 entries under this word
Prejudice
Prĕj'ū-dĭçe2, n.
n. [Lat. præjudicium, from præ, before, and judicium, judgment; Fr. préjudice, It. pregiudicio, pregiudizio, Sp. perjuicio.]
Sense 1. Anticipative judgment; foresight. [Obs. and rare.] Spenser.
Sense 2. An opinion or decision of mind formed without due examination; prejudgment; a bias or leaning toward one side or the other of a question from other considerations than those belonging to it; an unreasonable predilection or prepossession for or against any thing; especially, an opinion or leaning adverse to any thing, formed without proper grounds, or before suitable knowledge.
Though often misled by prejudice and passion, he was emphatically an honest man. Macaulay.
Sense 3. Mischief; hurt; damage; injury.
How plain this abuse is, and what prejudice it does to the understanding of the sacred Scriptures! Locke.
He accuses me of having engaged the affections of a young lady to the prejudice of her pretensions. W. Scott.
Synonyms— Prejudgment; prepossession; bias; harm; hurt; damage; detriment; mischief; disadvantage.
Prĕj'ū-dĭçe3, v. t.
v. t. [imp. & p. p. PREJUDICED (-dĭst, 108); p. pr. & vb. n. PREJUDICING.] [Fr. préjudicier, Sp. prejudicar, perjudicar. See supra.]
Sense 1. To prepossess with unexamined opinions, or opinions formed without due knowledge of the facts and circumstances attending the question; to bias the mind of by hasty and incorrect notions; to give an unreasonable bent to, as to one side or other of a cause.
Suffer not any beloved study to prejudice your mind so far as to despise all other learning. Watts.
Sense 2. To obstruct or injure by prejudices, or an undue previous bias of the mind; hence, generally, to hurt; to damage; to diminish; to impair. “To seek how we may prejudice the foe.” Shak.
I am not to prejudice the cause of my fellow-poets, though I abandon my own defense. Dryden.