prejudicado

Prejudicado is a term used in Portuguese (and, with the feminine form prejudicada) and in Spanish (prejudicado/prejudicada) formed from the verb prejudicar, meaning to harm, damage, or disadvantage. As an adjective, it describes someone or something that has suffered injury, loss, or an unfair disadvantage. As a noun phrase, it refers to the person or entity that has been harmed or damaged, and who may have standing to seek remedy in a dispute, contract, or crime.

In legal contexts, the prejudicado (masculine) or la persona perjudicada (Spanish) or a pessoa prejudicada (Portuguese) denotes the party that has suffered harm or loss and may seek redress, compensation, or protective measures. The concept is used to distinguish the harmed party from the responsible party, such as the autor/accionante (author/plaintiff) or réu/defendente (defendant). The term can also appear in insurance, consumer protection, and administrative procedures to indicate someone who has been adversely affected by a decision or event.

Usage outside strictly formal contexts also exists. In everyday language, estar prejudicado can mean being at a disadvantage due to circumstances, unfair rules, or biased conditions, not necessarily in a formal dispute. The word is closely related to prejuicio (prejudice) and prejudicial, the latter used to describe actions or conditions that are harmful or biased.

Etymologically, prejudicado comes from Latin praejudicare, meaning to judge beforehand, via the intermediate sense of causing harm or disadvantage before a final judgment.