depreciate
Americanverb (used with object)
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depreciates,
present (3rd person singular)
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depreciated,
past participle, past
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depreciating
present participle
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to reduce the purchasing value of (money).
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to lessen the value or price of.
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to claim depreciation on (a property) for tax purposes.
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to represent as of little value or merit; belittle.
verb (used without object)
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depreciates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
depreciated,
past participle, past
-
depreciating
present participle
verb
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to reduce or decline in value or price
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(tr) to lessen the value of by derision, criticism, etc; disparage
Commonly Confused
See deprecate
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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depreciatornoun
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predepreciateverb
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redepreciateverb
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underdepreciateverb (used with object)
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depreciatoryadjective
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nondepreciatingadjective
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undepreciatedadjective
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depreciatinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
depreciatesimple
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depreciatessimple
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have depreciatedperfect
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has depreciatedperfect
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am depreciatingprogressive
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are depreciatingprogressive
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is depreciatingprogressive
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have been depreciatingperfect progressive
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has been depreciatingperfect progressive
Past
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depreciatedsimple
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had depreciatedperfect
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was depreciatingprogressive
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were depreciatingprogressive
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had been depreciatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of depreciate
First recorded in 1640–50; from Late Latin dēpretiātus “undervalued” (past participle of dēpretiāre; in Medieval Latin spelling dēpreciāre ), equivalent to Latin dē- “away from, out of” + preti(um) “price” + -ātus past participle suffix; see de-, price, -ate 1
Explanation
Something depreciates when it loses value. If you bought shares of a company for $10 each a year ago and now they’re worth $1 each, guess what: they have depreciated. One of the most frustrating things about buying a car is the way it loses value. As soon as you drive it off the lot, your new car has already depreciated by several thousand dollars. Though usually used like this as a financial term, depreciate can also be used as the similar-sounding but unrelated word deprecate meaning "to belittle, lower in esteem." Your teachers should not depreciate you just because you don't always know the answers to their questions!
Vocabulary lists containing depreciate
"The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry
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"The Gift of the Magi"
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How Low Can You Go? Synonyms for "Downward"
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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:
The amount actually recovered in cases like this often falls well short of the amount embezzled - especially if the money has been spent on consumables, holidays, and luxury goods that depreciate.
From BBC ● May 26, 2026
Electric vehicles depreciate in value faster than traditional cars, meaning buyers can get a good deal on a used EV that hasn’t been on the road for long.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
And they buy their baby stuff secondhand, as these goods depreciate faster than clothing, cars and electronics, they note.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 14, 2026
As a result, higher inflation now provides greater scope for the peso to depreciate, potentially pushing prices even higher.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
I was obliged to digest the supercilious Menzel, who presumed modestly to depreciate Goethe,—and the supercilious Grabbe, who modestly depreciates Shakspeare,—and the philosophers who proclaim Schiller to be rather trivial!
From Letters of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy from Italy and Switzerland by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
And when it comes to vehicles, remember that a car also depreciates in value.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 7, 2026
They note that if the won depreciates by 1%, Hyundai’s annual operating profit would increase by 2%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
Amounts owed to boxers do not gain interest or adjust for inflation once a fighter is eligible at age 50, meaning the value depreciates over time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2023
If the rupee depreciates, fuel costs more, with knock-on effects for goods that are transported or manufactured.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2023
There are teachers, clerks, doctors, journalists, and the like, in a most pitiable plight because they have not the means of forcing the community to pay them higher salaries as the crown depreciates.
From Europe—Whither Bound? Being Letters of Travel from the Capitals of Europe in the Year 1921 by Stephen Graham
Over that same period, the yen depreciated nearly 5% against the dollar.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
According to his calculations, the Indian rupee has depreciated by between 35% and 47% against the currencies of major study destinations since 2019.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
The won has depreciated almost 6% against the dollar this year, despite similar yields BX:AMBMKKR-10Y, lower inflation, a huge current account surplus and record exports.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 9, 2026
Since the crisis erupted, the interest rates at which Romania borrows have risen, and the lei currency has depreciated against the euro, which reached an all-time high of 5.21 Romanian lei on Tuesday.
From Barron's ● May 5, 2026
At the outset it was met by the patent fact that the depreciated silver coinage had been made the handle or lever, or point d'avantage, in all the operations against gold.
From The History of Currency, 1252 to 1896 by William Arthur Shaw
On balance, Gave is minded to forecast the yen’s depreciating days may be ending.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
Perhaps the disappearance of history’s icons from a depreciating currency isn’t a fatal blow to the canon of British culture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 16, 2026
The most valuable asset you have now is time — and that’s a depreciating asset for all of us.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 19, 2026
The current wave of protests began after shopkeepers in Tehran went on strike over the rising cost of living and the depreciating value of the currency.
From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2026
Here Dad would stop long enough to give his version of a depreciating moue, and hide his face coyly behind an upraised elbow.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
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.
