discredit

American  

[dis-kred-it] / dɪsˈkrɛd ɪt /

verb (used with object)

discredits, present (3rd person singular) discredited, past participle, past discrediting present participle

1. to injure the credit or reputation of; defame.

   an effort to discredit honest politicians.

   Synonyms:

   undermine, tarnish, disgrace, disparage

2. to show to be undeserving of trust or belief; destroy confidence in.

   Later research discredited earlier theories.

3. to give no credence to; disbelieve.

   There was good reason to discredit the witness.

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noun

1. loss or lack of belief or confidence; disbelief; distrust.

   His theories met with general discredit.

2. loss or lack of repute or esteem; disrepute.

3. something that damages a good reputation.

   This behavior will be a discredit to your good name.

discredit British  

/ dɪsˈkrɛdɪt /

verb

1. to damage the reputation of

2. to cause to be disbelieved or distrusted

3. to reject as untrue or of questionable accuracy

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noun

1. a person, thing, or state of affairs that causes disgrace

2. damage to a reputation

3. lack of belief or confidence

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• undiscredited
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• discrediting
  present
• discredited
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• discredit
  simple
• discredits
  simple
• have discredited
  perfect
• has discredited
  perfect
• am discrediting
  progressive
• are discrediting
  progressive
• is discrediting
  progressive
• have been discrediting
  perfect progressive
• has been discrediting
  perfect progressive

Past

• discredited
  simple
• had discredited
  perfect
• was discrediting
  progressive
• were discrediting
  progressive
• had been discrediting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will discredit
  simple
• will have discredited
  perfect
• will be discrediting
  progressive
• will have been discrediting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of discredit

First recorded in 1550–60; dis- ¹ + credit

Explanation

Discredit means to cause mistrust or cast the accuracy of something into doubt. If you say that schooling is important to you, but you never study, your actions discredit you and your words. You discredit what someone says when you choose not to believe it. You can discredit the rumors going around about your boyfriend if you are sure of his love. On a more personal level, you discredit people when you cast their authority or reputation into doubt. If you're running a tough race for class president, your opponent may try to discredit you by talking about your failures or even making up lies about you. But this would be to the discredit of your opponent — his or her own reputation would suffer for this bad behavior.

Example Sentences

O’Leary hasn’t provided conclusive evidence of Chinese-government involvement, and some said his blame-China campaign is meant to discredit his opponents.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 14, 2026

“This is the reward for our warning the world that these viruses were coming,” Daszak says of the campaign to discredit EcoHealth.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 30, 2026

To my mind, these wildly inconsistent results are enough to discredit any accusation based on a Pangram analysis.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

While even reliable AI detectors can produce false results, researchers say a crop of fraudulent tools has emerged online, easily weaponized to discredit authentic content and tarnish reputations.

From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026

And he has the teacher’s fear of being surpassed by the student, the master’s dread of having the disciple discredit his work.

From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes

Related Words

• defame
• degrade
• destroy
• disgrace
• disparage
• disprove
• ruin
• slander
• smear
• vilify