discriminatingadj.

1642 T. Hill Trade of Truth 24 We live in shedding, discriminating times, it is a frequent question, quarum partium? On what side are you?

1645 J. Burroughes Irenicum 177 Round-head and Independent; these are now the opprobrious, discriminating, scornfull names of division amongst us.

a1676 M. Hale Judgm. True Relig. (1684) iii. 38 Each Party espousing some odd Discriminating Habits.

a1700 A. Shields True & Faithful Relation of Sufferings (1715) 61 I have taken on their prescribed discriminating Sign of Loyalty.

1797 M. Baillie Morbid Anat. (ed. 2) iv. 81 The discriminating mark of this disease.

1838 M. F. Tupper Gifts in Proverb. Philos. 228 A discriminating test Separating honesty from falsehood.

1921 EMF Electr.Year Bk. 383/2 The discriminating characteristic may be the delicacy of the instrument and its accuracy and precision of measurement.

2009 M. Fioroni & G. Titterton Brand Storming vii. 58 A time when taste was the discriminating feature of consumer choice.

1650 Severall Proc. Parl. No. 49. 716 That former discriminating Mercy of His, seems now to be turned into a Generall displeasure, and universal Indignation.

1691 E. Taylor J. Böhme's Theosophick Philos. 167 It may be doubted this discriminating Eye is dimn or shut.

1786 Crit. Rev. Apr. 293 The Greek historian paints his subjects with a bold and discriminating hand.

1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature I. 17 A sound and discriminating judgment.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 172 No man observed the varieties of character with a more discriminating eye.

1875 Musical Standard 13 Feb. 104/1 The applause was such as to raise a blush upon the face of any discriminating lover of music.

1916 Gleanings Bee Culture 1 Feb. 89/1 As our discriminating readers have noticed, we have discarded a few of the old and prolix forms of spelling.

1968 Times 20 Apr. 24/1 The late Sir John Prestige was a noted and discriminating collector, and his furniture, clocks, works of art and fine library were a pleasure available to his many friends.

2004 D. Lodge Author, Author ii. vi. 160 Venice still offered sanctuary and treasures and incomparable views to the discriminating visitor.

1789 Observ. Advantages Importation Cotton Wool 2 Foreign cotton shall not be admitted at all, or if admitted, to pay a discriminating duty.

1826 Edinb. Mag. & Literary Misc. May 564/2 Imposing a discriminating tax on the property of absentees.

1870 Daily News 16 Apr. Is it not absurd to revive a distinguishing rate, preferential and discriminating, in favour of one class of dealers and against another?

1922 Protectionist Mar. 475/1 An adequate American merchant marine is not possible without some form of protection—either discriminating duties or subsidies.

1959 Oxf. Econ. Papers 11 206 The use of discriminating tariffs to try to avoid trading too much with particularly unstable suppliers or customers.

2005 M. Enevoldsen Theory of Environmental Agreements & Taxes vi. 106 A discriminating tax cannot be efficient as some processes, firms or sectors are taxed below the efficient Pigouvian level.

1865 Liberator (Boston) 28 July 120/4 They [sc. former slaves] will..be made the unhappy objects of ungodly, discriminating laws.

1870 San Francisco Chron. 25 May 1/2 The section gives the Chinese the same rights as other citizens, and prohibits discriminating legislation by any State against immigrants from one foreign country over those from another.

1944 Crisis Feb. 48/1 Many of us feel ‘the four freedoms’ have a hollow ring when in our democracy such discriminating practices are tolerated.

2002 O. J. Harris & S. J. Hartman Organizational Behavior ii. 47 The problems caused by discriminating attitudes and behaviors will not go away without confrontation.

1893 A. R. Forsyth Theory Functions Complex Variable vi. §71. 111 To divide the plane of the modified variable ζ into two portions..The boundary..is a circle of finite radius, called the discriminating circle of the function..All the singularities (and the branch-points, if any) lie on the discriminating circle.

1975 Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. A. 138 374 A short appendix deals with the case when a, k are complex conjugate, γ ± δ... The discriminating circles are now replaced by rectangular hyperbolae in two real variables.

1997 S. M. Fakhraie & K. C. Smith VLSI-Compatible Implementations for Artific. Neural Networks 51 If z > 0, the input point (i₁, i₂) is outside the discriminating circle.

1862 G. Salmon Treat. Analytic Geom. Three Dimensions v. 58 If two roots of the discriminating cubic vanish, the equation..represents a cylinder whose base is a parabola.

1951 Biometrika 38 96 The λ's, and hence the W's, are obtained by solving the discriminating cubic of the ξ-cone.

1875 St. Louis (Missouri) Globe-Democrat 9 Nov. 4/4 As long as the horse cars are willing to take any passenger who happens to go their way, and to carry him..five miles for five cents, it looks like discriminating monopoly and extortion for a transfer company..to charge fifty cents for a course limited to two miles.

1928 Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 36 697 This condition..is necessary if the foreign price of a discriminating monopoly is to be less than the domestic price.

2008 R. A. Posner in R. D. Congleton et al. 40 Years Res. on Rent Seeking II. 60 Even when price discrimination is perfect,..the total social costs of a discriminating monopoly are greater than those of a single-price monopoly.

1802 E. Crosse Force of Contrast Continued 70 Those [principles], which, though disclaiming an exact similarity with the preceding [sc. Calvinist principles], are yet discriminatingly termed Evangelical.

1937 Times 19 Apr. 12/3 Was he characteristic of his race, caring discriminatingly about food and drink?

2006 T. Herbert Trombone x. 221 Players used vibrato discriminatingly.