Standard Lemma guide

prejudicial

adj · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌprɛdʒʊˈdɪʃl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪʃəl
  • CMU ARPABET: P R EH2 JH AH0 D IH1 SH AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Exhibiting prejudice or bias.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: nonprejudicial

2

adj

Meaning 2

Causing harm or injury; detrimental, harmful or injurious.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: harmful, damaging, deleterious, detrimental, hurtful, inimical, injurious, mischievous, nocent, nocuous, noxious, noisome, prejudicial, scathand, scathel, sullen, venom

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Tending to convince based on past history rather than on evidence about the case at hand.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: law

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: probative

4

adjective

Meaning 4

tending to favor preconceived ideas

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the presence of discriminatory or prejudicial attitudes in the white population

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: prejudicious

Antonyms: none provided

5

adjective satellite

Meaning 5

(sometimes followed by `to') causing harm or injury

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • damaging to career and reputation
  • the reporter's coverage resulted in prejudicial publicity for the defendant

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: damaging, detrimental, prejudicious

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English prejudiceele, prejudicial, prejudiciall, prejudiciel, prejudiciell, prejudycyall, from Old French prejudicial, prejudiciel and Medieval Latin prēiūdiciālis.

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: syrjivä — exhibiting prejudice or bias
  • French: avec préjugé — exhibiting prejudice or bias
  • German: voreingenommen — exhibiting prejudice or bias
  • Spanish: prejuicioso — exhibiting prejudice or bias
  • Bulgarian: вреден (vreden) — causing harm or injury; detrimental, harmful or injurious
  • Bulgarian: в ущърб на (v uštǎrb na) — causing harm or injury; detrimental, harmful or injurious
  • Finnish: vahingollinen — causing harm or injury; detrimental, harmful or injurious
  • French: préjudiciable — causing harm or injury; detrimental, harmful or injurious
  • French: nuisible — causing harm or injury; detrimental, harmful or injurious
  • German: abträglich — causing harm or injury; detrimental, harmful or injurious
  • Romanian: prejudiciabil — causing harm or injury; detrimental, harmful or injurious
  • Spanish: perjudicial — causing harm or injury; detrimental, harmful or injurious
  • Swedish: skadlig — causing harm or injury; detrimental, harmful or injurious