denigrate

verb den·i·grate \ ˈde-ni-ˌgrāt \

|Updated on: 17 Jul 2018

Examples: denigrate in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of denigrate

denigrated; denigrating

transitive verb

1 : to attack the reputation of : defame

denigrate one's opponents

2 : to deny the importance or validity of : belittle

denigrate their achievements

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denigration

play \ˌde-ni-ˈgrā-shən\ noun

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denigrative

play \ˈde-ni-ˌgrā-tiv\ adjective

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denigrator

play \-ˌgrā-tər\ noun

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denigratory

play \ˈde-ni-grə-ˌtȯr-ē\ adjective

See denigrate defined for English-language learners

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Examples of denigrate in a Sentence

Her story denigrates him as a person and as a teacher.
No one is trying to denigrate the importance of a good education. We all know that it is crucial for success.
denigrating the talents and achievements of women

Recent Examples of denigrate from the Web

Our larger community of outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers is too often guilty of denigrating otherwise like-minded people who look different from them or enjoy nature in different ways.

— wes siler, Outside Online, "In Defense of Off-Roading," 12 July 2018
This is while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has reverted to publicly denigrating Israel at every turn.

— yori yalon, Jewish Journal, "Turkey renovates homes and more in Muslim Quarter," 3 July 2018
Presidential candidate George Wallace used his speeches to denigrate and threaten hecklers, singling them out as unpatriotic in a manner later mimicked by candidate Donald Trump.

— doug struck, The Christian Science Monitor, "As Americans celebrate Independence Day, what does it mean to be a patriot?," 2 July 2018
The pejorative suffix -tard denigrates a person who has a certain quality or believes a thing that the speaker deplores.

— melissa mohr, The Christian Science Monitor, "When good words turn bad," 28 June 2018
According to legend, the very term blaxploitation was coined specifically to denigrate Super Fly.

— j.r. jones, Chicago Reader, "Superfly rolls back the clock on African-American movie heroes," 21 June 2018
Trump has repeatedly denigrated athletes who don't stand for the national anthem at campaign rallies and on Twitter.

— NBC News, "Trump cancels Eagles' Super Bowl ceremony, citing anthem dispute," 4 June 2018
For much of her brief, sad life, Julia Pastrana was denigrated, dehumanized and put on display for the amusement — and profit — of others, including her own husband.

— deneen l. brown, Washington Post, "‘The Bear Woman’: The brief, sad life of Julia Pastrana," 3 June 2018
This Administration has routinely denigrated the responsibilities of our diplomatic and development corps and deemed them low priorities for American foreign policy.

— oren dorell, USA TODAY, "South Korea, Germany, Egypt: These are among 44 countries that don't have a U.S. ambassador," 13 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'denigrate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

If you "denigrate" someone, you attempt to blacken their reputation. It makes sense, therefore, that "denigrate" can be traced back to the Latin verb denigrare, meaning "to blacken." When "denigrate" was first used in English in the 16th century, it meant to cast aspersions on someone's character or reputation. Eventually, it developed a second sense of "to make black" ("factory smoke denigrated the sky"), but this sense is somewhat rare in modern usage. Nowadays, of course, "denigrate" can also refer to belittling the worth or importance of someone or something.