as in defamation
the act of making a person or a thing seem little or unimportant
the unfair denigration of the social sciences by some people in the natural sciences
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Recent Examples of denigration
For me, this marks an early moment in the denigration of women.
—
Eana Kim, ARTnews.com, 27 Apr. 2026
Nowhere is there the vitriol or denigration found in MAGA gatherings.
—Chicago Tribune, 1 Apr. 2026
From the start, the denigration of the Iranian monarchy was at the center of the Islamic Republic’s official ideology.
—Azadeh Moaveni, New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2026
Trump is, of course, a man whose rise to power has been fueled by his denigration of people for being animal-like.
—Daniel Engber, The Atlantic, 22 Feb. 2026
The human costs of this are the increasing rates of illnesses and the financial costs of health care, lost productivity, and the compounding problems of further environmental denigration.
—Suwanna Gauntlett Upjohn, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
Eana Kim, ARTnews.com, 27 Apr. 2026
Nowhere is there the vitriol or denigration found in MAGA gatherings.
—Chicago Tribune, 1 Apr. 2026
From the start, the denigration of the Iranian monarchy was at the center of the Islamic Republic’s official ideology.
—Azadeh Moaveni, New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2026
Trump is, of course, a man whose rise to power has been fueled by his denigration of people for being animal-like.
—Daniel Engber, The Atlantic, 22 Feb. 2026
The human costs of this are the increasing rates of illnesses and the financial costs of health care, lost productivity, and the compounding problems of further environmental denigration.
—Suwanna Gauntlett Upjohn, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for denigration
Noun
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The Albert and McCabe families have also sued Read and Aidan Kearney, who runs the Turtleboy X account, for defamation.—
Colleen Cronin,
Boston Herald,
8 June 2026
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In December 2025, the rapper won a defamation case against blogger Milagro Gramz.—
Raven Brunner,
PEOPLE,
5 June 2026
Noun
-
Thousands of providers who were cut off from Medicaid billing can once again receive funds, at least for now, as the Minnesota Department of Human Services navigates a revalidation process drawing bipartisan criticism.—
Conor Wight,
CBS News,
13 June 2026
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Swift also reflected on making peace with criticism, fair and unfair, from both bots and real people.—
P. Claire Dodson,
Vogue,
12 June 2026
Noun
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The incident triggered panic among students and parents and drew condemnation from city and state leaders who said federal officials had assured them immigration enforcement would not occur at schools.—
Racquel Bazos,
Baltimore Sun,
11 June 2026
-
And was anyone surprised by the lack of immediate condemnation and outrage from Mayor Mamdani?—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
11 June 2026
Noun
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These disparagements cut to the core of southern manhood.—
Rob Wolfe,
The Atlantic,
5 June 2026
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The contract contained a non-disparagement clause, and in law, the special thing about disparagement is that unlike defamation, the truth is not a defense against disparagement.—
Marlow Stern,
Variety,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
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In 2014, Smith served a nine-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct and substance abuse policies.—
Nick Harris,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
14 June 2026
-
He was suspended multiple times during his career for infractions including violating the league's substance abuse and personal conduct policy.—
Brandon Downs,
CBS News,
14 June 2026
Noun
-
Apolline may embrace the social media aspects of her career but George’s belittlement rankles her.—
Peter Rainer,
Christian Science Monitor,
14 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Bank Indonesia highlighted that the depreciation of the rupiah was also driven by foreign portfolio investment outflows.—
Lim Hui Jie,
CNBC,
9 June 2026
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However, the iPhone 11 lineup and iPhone SE (2020) have already lost between 84% and 90% of their original value, meaning much of that depreciation has already occurred.—
Janhoi McGregor,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2026
Noun
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How the Knicks got here The Knicks have been a subject of ridicule for most of the past three decades, only to break through this spring with historic and surreal dominance.—
Esfandiar Baraheni,
New York Times,
3 June 2026
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Dozens of harrowing twists later, Daniel was turned into a vampire by Louis’ terrifyingly powerful, 500-year-old lover, Armand (Assad Zaman), and published Louis’ confessions to the ridicule of the human media and the outrage of the understandably press-shy immortal community.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
2 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Denigration.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/denigration. Accessed 15 Jun. 2026.
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