verb

benachteiligen

discriminate · disadvantage

Jemanden schlechter behandeln oder ihm weniger gute Chancen geben als anderen.

Definition & meaning

The verb benachteiligen means to treat someone unfairly or to put someone at a disadvantage relative to others. It describes a situation where an individual or a group is given fewer opportunities, rights, or resources than they deserve or than others receive.

It is commonly used in professional, social, or legal contexts to describe discrimination. For instance, if an employer pays a woman less than a man for the same work, the employer is said to benachteiligen the woman. It can also refer to situations where someone is bypassed or ignored when rewards or promotions are being distributed.

Grammar & Word origin

The word is a weak (regular) verb. Its forms are:

Present: er/sie/es benachteiligt
Preterite: benachteiligte
Perfect: hat benachteiligt

The word is a derivative of the noun Nachteil, which means "disadvantage" or "drawback." It is constructed from three parts:

The prefix be-, which is used here to make the noun part of a transitive verb that acts upon an object.
The root Nachteil.
The verbal suffix -igen.

The opposite noun is Vorteil (advantage), though there is no direct verb "bevorteiligen" used in the same way (instead, one uses bevorzugen).

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonyms:

diskriminieren (to discriminate)
zurücksetzen (to put at a disadvantage or slight someone)
schlechter stellen[?](vocabuo://word/schlechter stellen) (to place in a worse position)
übergehen (to bypass or overlook)
verkürzen (in the specific sense of depriving someone of their due)

Antonyms: