denigrate
Americanverb (used with object)
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denigrates,
present (3rd person singular)
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denigrated,
past participle, past
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denigrating
present participle
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to speak damagingly of; criticize in a derogatory manner; sully; defame.
to denigrate someone's character.
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to treat or represent as lacking in value or importance; belittle; disparage.
to denigrate someone's contributions to a project.
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Archaic. to make black; darken.
rain clouds denigrating the sky.
verb
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(tr) to belittle or disparage the character of; defame
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a rare word for blacken
Synonym Usage
See decry.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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denigrationnoun
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denigratornoun
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denigrativeadjective
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denigratoryadjective
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self-denigratingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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denigratesimple
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denigratessimple
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have denigratedperfect
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has denigratedperfect
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am denigratingprogressive
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are denigratingprogressive
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is denigratingprogressive
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have been denigratingperfect progressive
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has been denigratingperfect progressive
Past
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denigratedsimple
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had denigratedperfect
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was denigratingprogressive
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were denigratingprogressive
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had been denigratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of denigrate
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin dēnigrātus (past participle of dēnigrāre “to blacken”), equivalent to dē- de- + nigr(āre) “to make black” + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
To denigrate is to say bad things — true or false — about a person or thing. Your reputation as a math whiz might be hurt if your jealous classmate manages to denigrate you, even though the accusations are unfounded. The verb denigrate comes from the Latin word denigrare, which means “to blacken.” To sully or defame someone’s reputation, or to spread negative or hurtful information about a company or a situation, is to denigrate it. Your neighbors may denigrate your proposal for mandatory recycling in an attempt to stop your plan. Denigrate can also mean that you're making something seem less important, like when your brother tries to denigrate your athletic achievements.
Vocabulary lists containing denigrate
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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Vocabulary from the Second Presidential Debate: October 9, 2016
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This Week in Words: December 1 - 7 , 2018
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
This is not to denigrate players who have bust a gut for their country; it's an attempt to explain the real world they live in.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
But Ms. Glendon does not denigrate rights; far from it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
After a week of hearing various US officials denigrate Europe, its leaders and its regulations at Davos, ECB chief Christine Lagarde said Friday that the harsh words could be just what the continent needed.
From Barron's ● Jan. 23, 2026
Films are poignant and important, no matter how much the institutions designed to award them have come to denigrate them.
From Salon ● Jan. 13, 2026
Inventors thereby have a financial incentive to denigrate or ignore previous work.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
A spokesperson for the ASA said: "We've received a complaint about a Nationwide ad. The complainant argues that the ad is misleading around other banks closing branches, and discredits and denigrates its competitors."
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2024
“It denigrates the millions of victims of the Shoah in a despicable manner,” the council’s president, Josef Schuster, said, using the Hebrew name for the Holocaust.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 29, 2023
“He denigrates his status. If he wants to help Xóchitl Gálvez, his best contribution would be prudence, respect and, above all, silence.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2023
“I think anything that denigrates other people, I have to respectfully decline,” she said.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 29, 2021
There are people and communities I want to see celebrated in a world that denigrates them.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2020
Caesar denigrated situation comedies as soap operas with laughs added.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Instead, Macdonald provides clips of Lennon and Ono on talk shows discussing their marriage or disparaging his former Beatles bandmates for not standing up for Ono when the press denigrated her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2025
The very traditional rap song takes the listener through a list of people who have wronged and denigrated the rapper's name.
From Salon ● Dec. 28, 2024
He compared Badenoch's approach to that of her predecessor, Rishi Sunak - the UK's first prime minister of Indian heritage - as "a brilliant young man" who "never denigrated his nation of ancestry".
From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2024
“She traded me in for a better man,” he would say to Mammachi, and she would flinch as though he had denigrated her instead of himself.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
In the lead up to the Super Bowl, boosters of traditional sportsbooks have been denigrating prediction markets.
From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026
“It is likely that a very unhappy human came up with the idea of denigrating the holiday experience, even if AI was used to create part of the ad.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2025
"We strongly condemn any denigrating, violent, or unauthorized use of Franklin's name or image", publisher Kids Can Press said.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2025
Four years later, at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, all nuance was gone; the version of Jefferson on display became a denigrating demonstration of hypocrisy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2025
Regiomontanus spoke in praise of the mathematical sciences, and he praised them by denigrating the Aristotelian philosophy taught in the universities.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
