discredit
Americanverb (used with object)
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discredits,
present (3rd person singular)
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discredited,
past participle, past
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discrediting
present participle
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to injure the credit or reputation of; defame.
an effort to discredit honest politicians.
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to show to be undeserving of trust or belief; destroy confidence in.
Later research discredited earlier theories.
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to give no credence to; disbelieve.
There was good reason to discredit the witness.
noun
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loss or lack of belief or confidence; disbelief; distrust.
His theories met with general discredit.
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loss or lack of repute or esteem; disrepute.
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something that damages a good reputation.
This behavior will be a discredit to your good name.
verb
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to damage the reputation of
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to cause to be disbelieved or distrusted
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to reject as untrue or of questionable accuracy
noun
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a person, thing, or state of affairs that causes disgrace
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damage to a reputation
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lack of belief or confidence
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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discreditsimple
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discreditssimple
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have discreditedperfect
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has discreditedperfect
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am discreditingprogressive
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are discreditingprogressive
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is discreditingprogressive
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have been discreditingperfect progressive
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has been discreditingperfect progressive
Past
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discreditedsimple
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had discreditedperfect
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was discreditingprogressive
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were discreditingprogressive
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had been discreditingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of discredit
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.
Vocabulary lists containing discredit
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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:
"They have a reputation for maybe not giving it to people like me... and I think it would be a great discredit to them," Trump said on Wednesday.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
He held particular scorn for the flat-earthers, who he thought were plants to discredit genuine research about extraterrestrial technology.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Attempts to discredit the cockroach protests in similar ways, however, gained less traction for a number of reasons.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
Flores vehemently disputes this, saying that it was clearly an attempt to discredit him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Behind the scenes, Eisenhower set into motion a secret plan, dubbed Operation Mongoose, to discredit Castro.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
“This makes us vulnerable and discredits our goal to be a strong, independent geopolitical power,” Pentus-Rosimannus said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 2, 2026
They do not, however, realize that their wrongness discredits them and shows why people should stop listening to them.
From Salon ● Mar. 28, 2025
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
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann wrote that “violence against people or objects has no place in the political argument! This discredits the cause of many farmers who demonstrate peacefully.”
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 5, 2024
Craig said the problem with things is that everyone is always comparing everyone with everyone and because of that, it discredits people, like in his photography classes.
From "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky
This account lines up with the information provided in the CIA cables from the previously discredited Giaka.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
One essay defended the gold standard, which had been discredited in the 1930s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
But thanks to a thoroughly discredited British doctor who claimed to document changes in behavior in children given the MMR vaccine, creating the so-called “Wakefield effect,” some of this progress has been undone.
From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2026
These measures, enacted by more than half the states, shielded children from a discredited and abusive practice that fails to achieve its aims while inflicting serious, lasting psychological harms.
From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2026
By giving prestige to the Swiss, he discredited his own troops, for he did away entirely with his foot-soldiers and obliged his cavalry to depend upon the abilities of others.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
Golden Dawn made a sensational entry into parliament in 2012, in a climate of social distress linked to the financial crisis in Greece, loss of trust in institutions and discrediting of the main political parties.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
"He was being subjected to relentless scrutiny, including ridicule, discrediting absolutely every detail of his life," Baron-Cohen said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
Highgate said in a statement that it had worked on a file in defense of the ICC, but denied it was commissioned by a government entity or aimed at discrediting any individual.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
In her claim, Crowley alleges Bass and her subordinates have conducted a “public smear campaign aimed at discrediting Crowley’s character and decades of service,” following her dismissal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2025
“A guy who was really good at discrediting his opponent.”
From "The Benefits of Being an Octopus" by Ann Braden
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
