denigrate
Syllables: den·i·grateUK/ˈdɛn.ɪ.ɡɹeɪ̯t/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ˈden.ɪ.ɡɹæɪ̯t/
denigrate verb: to criticize so as to besmirch; traduce, disparage or defame.
Verb
denigrate (third-person singular simple present denigrates, present participle denigrating, simple past and past participle denigrated)
- To criticize so as to besmirch; traduce, disparage or defame.
- What grand engines they were! Yet I have noticed a disposition on the part of quite a diversity of present-day commentators to denigrate those engines.1960 May, O. S. Nock, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 343
- Although in public Soviet officials tend to denigrate the French electric locomotives imported recently, there is little doubt that lessons learnt from these engines will be incorporated in new Russian designs.1963 January, “Beyond the Channel: U.S.S.R.”, in Modern Railways, page 62
- To treat as worthless; belittle, degrade or disparage.
- You have no right to denigrate people and things that you have no personal experience with.
- Synonyms:
- banalize, deprecate, make light of, bagatellize, belittle, cut down, de-emphasize, degrade, derogate, disparage
- To blacken.
Adjective
denigrate (comparative more denigrate, superlative most denigrate)
denigrate meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
denigrate in Tamil
- இகழ்ந்துரை, இழித்துரை
denigrate in Urdu
- کالا, بدنام کرنا, کالک لگانا, سیاہ کرنا
denigrate in Bengali
- অন্যায়ভাবে হেয় করা, নিন্দা করা
denigrate in Malayalam
- belittle, disparage, deprecate
- കരിതേച്ചുകാണിക്കുക, യശസ്സു കെടുത്തുക, കൊച്ചാക്കി കാണിക്കുക, വിലയിടിക്കുക, അന്യായമായി കുറ്റപ്പെടുത്തുക, അപലപിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- denigrate in Kannada
- ಕೊಂಡಿಸು, ಹಳಿ, ಹೆಸರು ಕೆಡಿಸು
- denigrate in Arabic
- سَوَّدَ sawwada
Examples of denigrate in a sentence
- She favoritizes while she undermines, demeans and denigrates you.
- To speak of a "final solution" or a "homocaust" for homosexuals is an absurdity that denigrates the homosexual cause.
- However, in stark contrast with the lactification principle so denigrated by Fanon, she decides to abort and come home.
Synonyms of denigrate
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of denigrate
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | denigrates |
| present participle | denigrating |
| past participle | denigrated |
| past | denigrated |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more denigrate |
| superlative | most denigrate |
Origin of denigrate
Derived from Latin dēnigrātus, the perfect passive participle of dēnigrō (“to blacken”) [see -ate (verb-forming suffix)], from dē- (“of; from”) + nigrō (“to blacken”) [from niger (“black”)]. Cognate with Middle English denigart(e) (“darkened, discolored”).
Words formed from denigrate
Questions about denigrate
- What does denigrate mean?
- Denigrate means to criticize so as to besmirch; traduce, disparage or defame.
- What is denigrate in Tamil?
- Denigrate in Tamil is இகழ்ந்துரை, இழித்துரை. See Denigrate meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is denigrate?
- Denigrate can be a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce denigrate?
- Denigrate is pronounced /ˈdɛn.ɪ.ɡɹeɪ̯t/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of denigrate?
- The past tense of denigrate is denigrated.
Words near denigrate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: denigrate (page history and authors); denigrate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); denigrate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); denigrate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); denigrate (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); denigrate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-denigrate.ogg, en-au-denigrate.ogg.
Cite this entry: “denigrate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/denigrate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.