racially

IPA/ˈreɪʃəli/
KK[rˈeʃəli]IPA/ˈreɪʃəli/

racially — adverb

1. describing actions or situations where a person is judged or treated according t

1.adverbB2
Definition

describing actions or situations where a person is judged or treated according to their racial or ethnic background, especially when this leads to unfairness or harm

Example

The estate agent was found guilty of discriminating racially against South Asian families.

modifies 'discriminating' — common in discrimination and legal contexts

Tariq filed a complaint after hearing racially offensive remarks in the office break room.

collocation: racially offensive

Common collocations
  • racially motivated
  • racially offensive
  • racially abusive
  • racially biased
  • racially discriminatory
  • racially charged
  • racially hostile
  • racially discriminate against
Synonyms
  • prejudicially

    more formal and less common; focuses on prejudice rather than race specifically

  • discriminatorily

    very formal, legal register; narrower in focus on discriminatory acts

Antonyms
  • fairly

    opposite in the sense of treating people without racial bias

  • impartially

    opposite in the sense of not letting race affect judgement

Grammar Patterns

racially + verb (discriminate, abuse)

racially + adjective (motivated, offensive, biased, charged, abusive)

Usage Note

Commonly pairs with verbs like discriminate, abuse, harass and adjectives like motivated, offensive, biased, charged, hostile — almost always in contexts describing negative or harmful treatment based on race.

Common Mistakes

The comment was racist motivated.
The comment was racially motivated.
'racist' is an adjective describing a person or thing; 'racially' is the adverb needed to modify the adjective 'motivated'.

2. relating to how people are described or grouped by their racial or ethnic identi

2.adverbB2
Definition

relating to how people are described or grouped by their racial or ethnic identity as a category, without necessarily implying unfairness or conflict between groups

Example

The census form asks people to describe themselves racially from a list of categories.

modifies 'describe' — neutral classification context

The student body is racially diverse, with families originally from over twenty countries.

collocation: racially diverse

Common collocations
  • racially diverse
  • racially mixed
  • racially balanced
  • racially segregated
  • racially divided
Synonyms
  • ethnically

    broader meaning that can include cultural and linguistic background, not just race

Grammar Patterns

racially + adjective (diverse, mixed, balanced, segregated)

Usage Note

Commonly modifies adjectives that describe variety in group composition, such as diverse, mixed, balanced, or segregated. Unlike Sense 1 (DISCRIMINATORY), this sense does not carry a negative connotation about unfair treatment.

Common Mistakes

The school is racial diverse.
The school is racially diverse.
'racial' is an adjective and cannot modify another adjective; the adverb 'racially' is needed.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adverb/1

Racially focuses specifically on race or perceived race as the basis for an action or attitude, and is the most common and natural word in everyday contexts. Prejudicially is more formal and broader, covering prejudice based on any characteristic (not just race). Discriminatorily is the most formal of the three, used mainly in legal writing about discriminatory practices. Ethnically overlaps with racially but includes cultural, linguistic, and national origin dimensions that go beyond physical characteristics. For example, a policy might be racially discriminatory if it targets people by skin colour, while an ethnically diverse neighbourhood includes differences in language, food, and customs as well as physical traits.

racially ↗prejudiciallydiscriminatorily ↗ethnically ↗

Etymology

ItalianFrenchEnglish

Formed by adding the adverb suffix -ly to the adjective racial, which itself comes from the noun race plus the adjective-forming suffix -ial. The noun race entered English in the 16th century from French, ultimately from Italian razza, though the exact origin before that is uncertain. The word racial appeared around the 1830s, and racially followed soon after, becoming widely used in the 20th century as social and legal discussions about race grew more prominent.