These words refer to an unfair, irrational or unexamined attitude towards issues or people based on blanket preconceptions. Bigotry now refers almost exclusively to an intense dislike or even violent hatred for a particular group, race or religion. The comparable use of prejudice would indicate a similar but far less intense predisposition against such a group. Bigotry almost surely would be evidenced in unashamed public utterance or behaviour, whereas prejudice might remain largely unexpressed – or even unknown to the person so afflicted: easier to cope with the outright bigotry of racialist groups than with the unexpressed prejudice of much of respectable society. Prejudice , also, can apply to any preconception: an abhorrence for the maltreatment of animals that would make him unable to hear the case without prejudice .

Intolerance is used in its general sense of not being able to tolerate – or put up with – some idea or group of people at variance with one’s own thinking: we unfairly regard with intolerance the long hair, strange dress and weird music of our teenager. But it is also used in a similar sense to bigotry and prejudice in racial or religious matters, even if not so strong in its impact. Bias is unique among these words, since it can point to a predisposition either for or against something: He admitted that he had a sentimental bias for anything pertaining to Ireland; a strong bias in slum areas against policemen. Where prejudice can indicate a fixed, inflexible attitude, bias might suggest only a tendency to take a given view. Yet even such a mild predisposition could be disastrous where strict impartiality is required, as in a judge or juror: The lawyer argued that the judge’s bias had affected the conduct of the case.

Narrow-mindedness points to a rigidity of preconceived attitudes, but specifically sees them as stemming from inexperience or a lack of exposure to a broader scale of values: the typical narrow-mindedness of people who stay in one rut without ever getting out of it to see how other people live. The word often suggests habitual insularity, backwardness, provinciality and lack of sophistication, but might be evidenced by an uneventful passivity or withdrawal rather than the hostile taking of stands suggested by the first pair: She was prevented from going to theatres or dances by the narrow-mindedness of her parents. But the word can apply to any dogmatic rigidity of view: Permissive parents are often guilty of as much narrow-mindedness as those who are belaboured for their authoritarian views on child-rearing. The word frequently points specifically to a prudish or puritan attitude towards sex or pleasure: He accused her of narrow-mindedness for refusing to have dinner with him in his flat. Obviously, the word is extremely relative and can be used by someone to refer to any behaviour, however, tolerant, that he may not find sufficiently acquiescent.