belittle
verb (used with object)
to regard or portray as less impressive or important than appearances indicate; depreciate; disparage.
had belittled
-
past perfectof belittle.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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.
Cartlidge also raised "a disgraceful incident" where an employee of General Dynamics, the company making Ajax, had "belittled the injured soldiers" in social media posts.
From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2025
I told him he needed to seek comfort from someone else and that he had belittled me for years, and then I blocked him.
From Slate ● May 9, 2019
And in 1998, Ramsay made headlines ejecting the critic AA Gill and his dining companion, Joan Collins, from his restaurant after Gill had belittled him in print.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 18, 2013
For though he had belittled his success and attributed much of it to luck, Dr. Huggins had communicated the enthusiasm and restless energy with which he fights on one of the many fronts against cancer.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was his daughter Fatimah who, arriving a few moments later, threw the filth far from her father, and railed at the wretches who had belittled themselves by the infliction of such a repulsive insult.
From The Life of Mohammad The Prophet of Allah by Dinet, Etienne
