deprecate

verb

dep·​re·​cate ˈde-pri-ˌkāt 

deprecated; deprecating; deprecates

transitive verb

1

: to express disapproval of

deprecates such attempts at humor

2

a

: make little of : play down

… speaks five languages … but deprecates this facility …

—Time

b

: belittle, disparage

… the most reluctantly admired and least easily deprecated of … novelists.

—New Yorker

3

: to withdraw official support for or discourage the use of (something, such as a software product) in favor of a newer or better alternative

… the Google Drive app for PC and Mac is officially being deprecated and the company's developers announced … that it will no longer be supported …

—Rhett Jones

In the case of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, Microsoft is deprecating and removing more than 20 features.

—Mauro Huculak

4

a

: to seek to avert

… deprecate the wrath … of the Roman people.

—Tobias Smollett

b

archaic : to pray against (something, such as an evil)

deprecation

ˌde-pri-ˈkā-shən 

noun

Synonyms of deprecate

• dismiss
• minimize
• diminish
• criticize

Examples of deprecate in a Sentence

movie critics tried to outdo one another in deprecating the comedy as the stupidest movie of the year

deprecates TV sitcoms as childish and simpleminded

Recent Examples on the Web

Once the new models go live, earlier versions will be deprecated. — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 25 Nov. 2025

On a year-to-date basis, the currency has deprecated over 8% against the greenback. — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 9 June 2026

The 45-year-old actor has always projected a sort of likable, hunky lunkhead persona, giving the movies their equivalent of the campus jock that secretly had a sly sense of self-deprecating humor and theater-department chops. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 8 Oct. 2025

Without active curation to deprecate or reweight pre-update data, the model will keep applying obsolete step-therapy logic, where a patient who should sail through maintenance approval gets incorrectly bounced back to step-therapy requirements. — Anjana Susarla, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

Latin deprecatus, past participle of deprecari to avert by prayer, from de- + precari to pray — more at pray

First Known Use

1628, in the meaning defined at sense 4b

Rhymes for deprecate

• abdicate
• abrogate
• acetate
• activate
• actuate
• aggravate
• agitate
• alginate
• alienate
• allocate
• amputate
• angulate

Kids Definition

deprecate

verb

dep·​re·​cate ˈdep-ri-ˌkāt 

deprecated; deprecating

1

: to express disapproval of

2

: to represent as of little value : depreciate

deprecatingly

-ˌkāt-iŋ-lē 

adverb

deprecation

ˌdep-ri-ˈkā-shən 

noun