Word.ws English Dictionary

derogative

derogative adjective: disparaging; tending or intending to be belittling.

Adjective

derogative (comparative more derogative, superlative most derogative)

  1. Disparaging; tending or intending to be belittling.
    • "How strange, but then again, he is a strange man." [...] "Don't get me wrong. I did not mean that in a derogative sense."1994, Jim Ranie, Jargodin: The Moonlighter, Brisbane: Jim Ranie, page 149
    Synonyms:
    contemptuous
  2. Of or pertaining to derogation; that derogates

Noun

derogative (plural derogatives)

  1. (rare) A derogatory word or word-form.
    • (interposing s, the characteristic of diminutives and derogatives)1870, Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, volume 2, page 24

Synonyms of derogative

Antonyms

Forms of derogative

Adjective
comparativemore derogative
superlativemost derogative
Noun
pluralderogatives

Origin of derogative

From derogate + -ive.

Words formed from derogative

Questions about derogative

What does derogative mean?
Derogative means disparaging; tending or intending to be belittling.
What part of speech is derogative?
Derogative can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near derogative in the dictionary

  1. derogatest
  2. derogateth
  3. derogating
  4. derogation
  5. derogations
  6. derogative
  7. derogatively
  8. derogatives
  9. derogativity
  10. derogator
  11. derogatories

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: derogative (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “derogative.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/derogative. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.