pejorative

1 of 2

noun

pe·​jo·​ra·​tive pi-ˈjȯr-ə-tiv How to pronounce pejorative (audio)
-ˈjär-,
 also  ˈpe-jə-rə-tiv,
 or  ˈpē-,
 or  -ˌrā-,
 or  ˈpej-rə-,
 or  ˈpēj-
: a word or phrase that has negative connotations (see connotation sense 1) or that is intended to disparage or belittle : a pejorative word or phrase

pejorative

2 of 2

adjective

pe·​jo·​ra·​tive pi-ˈjȯr-ə-tiv How to pronounce pejorative (audio)
-ˈjär-,
 also  ˈpe-jə-rə-tiv,
 or  ˈpē-,
 or  -ˌrā-,
 or  ˈpej-rə-,
 or  ˈpēj-
: having negative connotations (see connotation sense 1)
especially : tending to disparage or belittle : depreciatory
pejoratively adverb

Did you know?

"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." Parents have given that good advice for years, but unfortunately many people haven't heeded it. The word pejorative makes it clear that both English and Latin speakers have long known that disparaging words can make a bad situation worse. Pejorative derives from the Late Latin adjective pējōrātus, which in turn comes from the Latin verb pējōrāre, meaning "to make or become worse." Although pejorative words have probably always been part of English, the adjective pejorative has only been found in English texts since the late 1880s. Before then, English speakers could rely on older synonyms of pejorative such as derogatory and uncomplimentary to describe disparaging words.

Examples of pejorative in a Sentence

Adjective Children born with an extra chromosome 21 are healthy, conspicuously happy and destined to live for many years. But they are not considered, in that pejorative word, 'normal'. Matt Ridley, Genome, 1999
The word barbarian was used by the Greeks, to designate an alien, and therefore, by definition, someone inferior in culture to a Hellene. The Romans applied this in the pejorative sense to the people who came to live along the Rhine-Danube frontier. Norman F. Cantor, The Civilization of the Middle Ages, 1993
On occasion they expressed a preference for the terms Latino or Hispanic if that would assist them in escaping from the term Puerto Rican, which became, at times, almost pejorative. John Hope Franklin, "The Land of Room Enough," 1981, in Race and History1989
a word with pejorative connotations the reviewer used the pejorative word “versifier” to refer to the writer, whose poems had struck a responsive chord with the general public
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
President Richard Nixon’s structural changes to the international monetary system were shorthanded as Nixonomics, while Carternomics was mostly a pejorative deployed to remember an era of painful inflation. Michael Sasso, Fortune, 15 Aug. 2023 The White House has labeled the president’s new economic campaign Bidenomics, a portmanteau that until now has been a pejorative used by Republicans and conservative news outlets primarily to underscore inflation. Reid J. Epstein, New York Times, 29 June 2023 See all Example Sentences for pejorative 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pejorative.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

noun derivative of pejorative entry 2

Adjective

borrowed from New Latin pējōrātīvus, from Late Latin pējōrātus, past participle of pējōrāre "to make worse, aggravate" (derivative of Latin pējor "inferior, worse," going back to *ped-yos-, comparative of *ped-, extracted from *ped-tu- "a fall, falling") + Latin -īvus -ive — more at pessimism

First Known Use

Noun

1882, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

circa 1888, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of pejorative was in 1882

Podcast

Dictionary Entries Near pejorative

Cite this Entry

“Pejorative.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pejorative. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on pejorative

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!