Word.ws English Dictionary

detractory

/dɪˈtɹæktəɹi/

detractory adjective: that detracts from something; disparaging, depreciatory.

Adjective

detractory (comparative more detractory, superlative most detractory)

  1. (archaic) That detracts from something; disparaging, depreciatory.
    • For this is not only derogatory unto the wisdom of God, who hath proposed the World unto out knowledge, and thereby the notion of Himself; but also detractory unto the intellect, and sense of man expressedly disposed for that inquisition.1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.5

Forms of detractory

comparativemore detractory
superlativemost detractory

Origin of detractory

From Latin dētractōrius, from dētractor.

Questions about detractory

What does detractory mean?
Detractory means that detracts from something; disparaging, depreciatory.
What part of speech is detractory?
Detractory is an adjective.
How do you pronounce detractory?
Detractory is pronounced /dɪˈtɹæktəɹi/.

Words near detractory in the dictionary

  1. detractive
  2. detractively
  3. detractiveness
  4. detractor
  5. detractors
  6. detractory
  7. detractour
  8. detractours
  9. detractress
  10. detractresses
  11. detracts

Source and license

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