disparagement
Americannoun
-
the act of disparaging.
-
something that derogates or casts in a bad light, as a remark or censorious essay.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disparagement
1480–90; < Anglo-French, Middle French desparagement, equivalent to desparag ( ier ) to disparage + -ment -ment
Explanation
Disparagement is belittlement. When Prince William married Catherine Middleton, there was some disparagement by the public of her non-royal background. Snobs. Disparagement comes from the Old French desparagier, meaning "marry someone of unequal rank." Disparagement is the act of speaking about someone in a negative or belittling way, and doesn't have to be related to weddings. If someone wins an election because of sneaky, dishonest ads, you can be sure that there will be plenty of disparagement of that candidate in the back rooms of the defeated politician.
Vocabulary lists containing disparagement
Romeo and Juliet
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The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 4
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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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.
The color is murky, the composition undeveloped, the foreground possibilities unutilized; often some element in the middle or remote distance is rendered in devoted detail to the disparagement of everything else.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026
Similarly, Clark said, an attorney could try to nullify an old agreement using a 2023 decision from the National Labor Relations Board that related to disparagement clauses in severance agreements.
From Slate • Oct. 23, 2024
Attorneys for Mr Baldwin filed to dismiss the case earlier this month, accusing prosecutors of "unethical disparagement" and of "violating nearly every rule in the book" to secure a grand jury indictment against the actor.
From BBC • May 24, 2024
More surprisingly, the prosecution has also peppered its presentation with disparagement of Cohen, whom several witnesses portrayed as a self-interested blowhard.
From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2024
Rousseau’s disparagement of the English as “a nation of shopkeepers” persists as a belief that a concern with numbers and details numbs one to the big questions, to the grandeur of nature.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
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.
