Adjacent Words

belittle definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: cause to seem less serious; play down; "Don't belittle his influence" [syn: minimize, belittle, denigrate, derogate]
2: express a negative opinion of; "She disparaged her student's efforts" [syn: disparage, belittle, pick at] [ant: blandish, flatter]
3: lessen the authority, dignity, or reputation of; "don't belittle your colleagues" [syn: diminish, belittle]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (-littled; belittling) Date: 1797 1. to speak slightingly of ; disparage <belittles her efforts> 2. to cause (a person or thing) to seem little or less Synonyms: see decry • belittlement noun • belittler noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 depreciate. 2 make small; dwarf. Derivatives: belittlement n. belittler n. belittlingly adv.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Belittle Be*lit"tle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Belittled; p. pr. & vb. n. Belittling.] To make little or less in a moral sense; to speak of in a depreciatory or contemptuous way. --T. Jefferson.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(belittles, belittling, belittled) If you belittle someone or something, you say or imply that they are unimportant or not very good. We mustn't belittle her outstanding achievement... = downplay VERB: V n

Moby Thesaurus

bedwarf, bring down, bring into discredit, bring low, criticize, cry down, de-emphasize, debase, decry, degrade, denigrate, deprecate, depreciate, derogate, derogate from, detract from, diminish, disapprove of, discount, discredit, disgrace, disparage, dispraise, downgrade, downplay, dwarf, hold in contempt, knock, lessen, make light of, make little of, make nothing of, minify, minimize, misestimate, misprize, mitigate, play down, pooh-pooh, put down, reduce, reflect discredit upon, run down, sell short, set at naught, set little by, shrug off, slight, speak ill of, submit to indignity, think little of, think nothing of, trivialize, underestimate, underplay, underprize, underrate, underreckon, undervalue, write off