slighting
- derogatory and disparaging; belittling.
Origin of slighting
slight
- small in amount, degree, etc.: a slight increase; a slight odor.
- of little importance, influence, etc.; trivial: a slight cut.
- slender or slim; not heavily built.
- frail; flimsy; delicate: a slight fabric.
- of little substance or strength.
- to treat as of little importance.
- to treat (someone) with indifference; ignore, especially pointedly or contemptuously; snub: to be slighted by society.
- to do negligently; scamp: to slight one's studies.
- an act or instance of slighting or being slighted: The critics’ slights led her to change direction in her work.
- a pointed and contemptuous discourtesy; affront: She considered not being invited an unforgivable slight.
Origin of slight
Synonyms
See more synonyms for slight on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
Examples from the Web for slighting
Historical Examples
Let the world be as critical or slighting as it may, these things are successes.
Tony ButlerCharles James Lever
He repelled the suggestion by a slighting gesture of the hand.
The RescueJoseph Conrad
He must have seen the woman—but he is angry with me, for—for—slighting him—as he thinks—but he was wrong.
The Golden DogWilliam Kirby
And when we were some distance away he made a slighting remark about Millie.
The JucklinsOpie Read
I did wrong in slighting your injunction, and suffering Lilian to do so.
A Strange Story, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
slighting
- characteristic of a slight; disparaging; disdainfulin a slighting manner
slight
- small in quantity or extent
- of small importance; trifling
- slim and delicate
- lacking in strength or substance
- Southwest English dialect ill
- to show indifference or disregard for (someone); snub
- to treat as unimportant or trifling
- US to devote inadequate attention to (work, duties, etc)
- an act or omission indicating supercilious neglect or indifference
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for slighting
slight
adj.
early 14c., "flat, smooth; hairless," probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse slettr "smooth, sleek," from Proto-Germanic *slikhtaz (cf. Old Saxon slicht; Low German slicht "smooth, plain common;" Old English -sliht "level," attested in eorðslihtes "level with the ground;" Old Frisian sliucht "smooth, slight," Middle Dutch sleht "even, plain," Old High German sleht, Gothic slaihts "smooth"), probably from a collateral form of PIE *sleig- "to smooth, glide, be muddy," from root *(s)lei- "slimy" (see slime (n.)).
Sense evolution probably is from "smooth" (c.1300), to "slim, slender; of light texture," hence "not good or strong; insubstantial, trifling, inferior, insignificant" (early 14c.). Meaning "small in amount" is from 1520s. Sense of German cognate schlecht developed from "smooth, plain, simple" to "bad, mean, base," and as it did it was replaced in the original senses by schlicht, a back-formation from schlichten "to smooth, to plane," a derivative of schlecht in the old sense [Klein].
slight
v.
c.1300, "make plain or smooth," from slight (adj.) Meaning "treat with indifference" (1590s) is from the adjective in sense of "having little worth." Related: Slighted; slighting.
slight
n.
1550s, "small amount or weight," from slight (v.). Meaning "act of intentional neglect or ignoring out of displeasure or contempt" is from 1701, probably via 17c. phrase make a slight of (1610s).