pejorative
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pejorative
First recorded in 1880–85; from Latin pējōrāt(us) “made worse” ( see pejoration) + -ive
Explanation
Call a word or phrase pejorative if it is used as a disapproving expression or a term of abuse. Tree-hugger is a pejorative term for an environmentalist. Coming from the Latin word for "worse," pejorative is both an adjective and a noun. As an adjective, it means disapproving or disparaging. Hack is a pejorative term for a bad writer. If you call someone a politician in the pejorative sense, you mean that they are scheming and out for personal gain. Terms of abuse such as jerk and negative euphemisms such as bottom feeder are pejoratives, words you use when you want to call someone a bad name.
Vocabulary lists containing pejorative
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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Born a Crime
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"Perfectly Cromulent": Another Simpsons Vocabulary List
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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.
Pejorative term employed by members and adherents of the GNU project to describe the act of holding software proprietary, keeping it under trade secret or license terms which prohibit free redistribution and modification.
From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Steele, Guy L.
Pejorative term for the hundreds of megabytes of low-quality freeware circulated by user's groups and BBS systems in the micro-hobbyist world.
From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Steele, Guy L.
Pejorative term for an internet service provider that permits or even encourages spam mailings from its systems.
From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Steele, Guy L.
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.
