prejudiced attitudes or behaviour► prejudice when people do not like or trust someone who is different from them, for example because they belong to a different race, country, or religion: · Almost all immigrant groups have faced prejudice in their new countries.· Able young men and women are still held back from success by prejudice.· You should learn to identify your own prejudices and deal with them.prejudice against: · There is still a lot of prejudice against gay men.racial prejudice: · measures to tackle the problem of racial prejudice in the police forceclass prejudice (=because of someone's social class) British: · Criticizing people's accents in this way is nothing less than class prejudice.
► racism/racial prejudice the belief that people of your race are naturally better, more intelligent etc than people of other races, especially when this leads to unfair treatment, hatred, and violence: · The ANC never dropped its commitment to the fight against racism.· A French company has been accused of racism after sacking three Algerian workers.· Jackie Robinson overcame racial prejudice to become the first black baseball player in the Major leagues.· Racism will not be tolerated anywhere within this organization.
► sexism prejudiced attitudes and unfair behaviour towards people who belong to a particular sex. Sexism is usually used about unfair treatment of women, but can be used about treatment of and attitudes towards men: · There is still a lot of subtle sexism on television and in magazines.· Sexism in advertising is becoming less common thanks to the new complaints commission.· a government report into sexism in the workplace
► homophobia hatred of or prejudiced attitudes towards gay people: · There is probably less homophobia in the movie industry than in many others.· The lives of many young gay people are ruined by unthinking and widespread homophobia in society.
► xenophobia hatred of or completely negative attitudes towards people from other countries: · In an atmosphere of growing xenophobia many foreigners were deported or even imprisoned.
► intolerance unreasonable refusal to accept that other people have the right to have different beliefs, customs, or opinions from yours: · Religious intolerance has always been a major cause of war.· Many of our friends' lives have been shattered by intolerance, persecution and torture.
► bigotry a completely unreasonable hatred for people of a different race, religion etc, based on strong and fixed opinions: · Gay people face a constant struggle against bigotry.· Teach your children to recognize bigotry and not be a part of it.
► hate crime a crime that is committed against someone because they belong to a particular group, for example because they are of a different race: · The police are setting up a new hate crime unit in East London.· Gay activists say hate crimes are on the increase.