disparaging
adjective
dis·par·ag·ing
di-ˈsper-i-jiŋ 
-ˈspa-ri-
: meant to belittle the value or importance of someone or something : serving or intended to disparage someone or something
a disparaging term/word
… disparaging comments from ordinarily sane and sympathetic critics …—
Isaiah Berlin
Isaiah BerlinLegally, I also can't say anything about the company that could be construed as disparaging.—Chuck Klosterman
Chuck Klosterman
disparagingly
adverb
a term often used disparagingly
People in my field … have a tendency to take lightly and often disparagingly the efforts of workers in the so-called social sciences.
—Lewis Thomas
Lewis Thomas
Examples of disparaging in a Sentence
disparaging comments about the lack of talent among the musical performers
Recent Examples on the Web
And there would be lots of soldiers around, either Army or National Guard, and the people who were civilians would be young people, very disparaging about the military.
—Steve Baltin, Forbes.com, 24 Aug. 2025
The 2023 Economic Report Of The President published in March of 2023 was relatively disparaging of cryptoassets and DLTs.
—Lawrence Wintermeyer, Forbes, 5 Dec. 2024
Prior to appearing on Cunningham's show on Monday, Huggins made more disparaging remarks about Xavier.
—Emily Deletter, The Enquirer, 10 May 2023
As a former prosecutor in New York City and a professor of law at West Point, Tim Bakken believes that most people find solace in casting the most disparaging label possible upon an adversary.
—Howard Manly, The Conversation, 20 Dec. 2022
Scam victims could be called innocent to the misdeeds of the net, but being deemed gullible is the more disparaging and stubborn charge.
—Hannah Zeavin, Harper’s Magazine , 22 June 2022
Will Smith was given the Golden Raspberry Awards’ lone non-disparaging prize, with Smith earning the Redeemer Award after landing an actual Oscar nod for his role in King RIchard; Nicolas Cage and Jamie Dornan were also considered for the quasi-honor.
—Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 26 Mar. 2022
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Steve Baltin, Forbes.com, 24 Aug. 2025
The 2023 Economic Report Of The President published in March of 2023 was relatively disparaging of cryptoassets and DLTs.
—Lawrence Wintermeyer, Forbes, 5 Dec. 2024
Prior to appearing on Cunningham's show on Monday, Huggins made more disparaging remarks about Xavier.
—Emily Deletter, The Enquirer, 10 May 2023
As a former prosecutor in New York City and a professor of law at West Point, Tim Bakken believes that most people find solace in casting the most disparaging label possible upon an adversary.
—Howard Manly, The Conversation, 20 Dec. 2022
Scam victims could be called innocent to the misdeeds of the net, but being deemed gullible is the more disparaging and stubborn charge.
—Hannah Zeavin, Harper’s Magazine , 22 June 2022
Will Smith was given the Golden Raspberry Awards’ lone non-disparaging prize, with Smith earning the Redeemer Award after landing an actual Oscar nod for his role in King RIchard; Nicolas Cage and Jamie Dornan were also considered for the quasi-honor.
—Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 26 Mar. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Disparaging.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disparaging. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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