as in insulting
intended to make a person or thing seem of little importance or value
the reviewer used the pejorative word "versifier" to refer to the writer, whose poems had struck a responsive chord with the general public
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pejorative
Online, clips from the show have gone viral for their salty language and pejorative descriptions of Trump, Vice President Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans.
—
Stephen Fowler, NPR, 11 Nov. 2025
Today slop’s pejorative bite is increasingly aimed at all things AI, treating it as an undeniable cultural pollutant.
—Deni Ellis Béchard, Scientific American, 8 Nov. 2025
About 1,000 schools continue use of pejorative mascots, according to the National Congress of American Indians.
—Diana Lambdin Meyer, USA Today, 7 Nov. 2025
The intensity of Irish expressions of solidarity in 2024 caused one pro-Israel commentator, Ben Cohen, to coin the term Paddystinian as a derisive epithet to counter the narrative, conflating the pejorative stereotype of the drunken Paddy with Palestine.
—Philip Metres
august 27, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pejorative
Stephen Fowler, NPR, 11 Nov. 2025
Today slop’s pejorative bite is increasingly aimed at all things AI, treating it as an undeniable cultural pollutant.
—Deni Ellis Béchard, Scientific American, 8 Nov. 2025
About 1,000 schools continue use of pejorative mascots, according to the National Congress of American Indians.
—Diana Lambdin Meyer, USA Today, 7 Nov. 2025
The intensity of Irish expressions of solidarity in 2024 caused one pro-Israel commentator, Ben Cohen, to coin the term Paddystinian as a derisive epithet to counter the narrative, conflating the pejorative stereotype of the drunken Paddy with Palestine.
—Philip Metres
august 27, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pejorative
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pejorative
Adjective
-
With all of the furor over the halftime show, perhaps no one noticed two highly insulting events that directly affected the deaf audience.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
13 Feb. 2026
-
The discontent was more widespread, more vociferous and more insulting this time.—
Andy Naylor,
New York Times,
9 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Court documents show Shadbar, who is white, yelled several derogatory racist and sexist slurs at his neighbors and had regularly harassed the family, including firing blank rounds toward Robertson’s home and throwing an M-80 type of firework over the fence into her yard.—
Michelle Mullins,
Chicago Tribune,
6 Feb. 2026
-
Oklahoma State’s win over BYU was overshadowed by allegations of derogatory fan chants.—
Chantz Martin,
FOXNews.com,
5 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Rodney Ward could face up to 25 years in prison for the charges of theft and malicious destruction of property.—
Caroline Foreback,
CBS News,
18 Feb. 2026
-
Their poverty, the fruit of Salieri’s malicious ploys, tests the limits of their endurance.—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Never mind that the statuettes were meant to be demeaning.—
Judith Shulevitz,
The Atlantic,
17 Feb. 2026
-
Sure, the demeaning bigotry cannot be ignored, and the post was just after armed federal agents burst into a hotel room to arrest the unarmed Black journalist Don Lemon, and the National Park Service removed a slavery exhibit in Philadelphia.—
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,
Time,
7 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Conservative pundit Meghan McCain blasted commentator Tucker Carlson after a guest on his podcast and online show this week made a disparaging remark about her weight.—
Dominick Mastrangelo,
The Hill,
5 Dec. 2025
-
Emily’s father didn’t say it in a disparaging way—more like That was just Ryan.—
Jamie Thompson,
The Atlantic,
6 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
This subsided with unusual speed, however, as cricket fans took instead to sharing the self-deprecatory jokes coming over the border.—
The Economist,
The Economist,
22 June 2019
-
Philipps has acquired her 1-million-and-growing Instagram followers through her self-deprecatory humor, raw honesty and vulnerability.—
Sonja Haller,
USA TODAY,
11 July 2018
Adjective
-
Neither party admitted to liability and each agreed to refrain from making disparaging, negative or uncomplimentary statements about the other, the document said.—
Lorraine Mirabella,
Baltimore Sun,
29 July 2022
-
Though the pollen gunk will pass, he's concerned by a contingent of Twitter trolls who've shared uncomplimentary reviews of his recent North American tour.—
Jordan Runtagh,
PEOPLE.com,
21 Jan. 2022
Adjective
-
Hogg, who had a brief and tumultuous stint as a DNC co–vice chair in early 2025, is contemptuous of the party’s lingering cohort of elder leaders.—
Mark Leibovich,
The Atlantic,
11 Feb. 2026
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Written in a joking and contemptuous tone, the tweet would take on an indescribably morbid weight just five days later, when, at the behest of Governor Cláudio Castro, the Rio de Janeiro police carried out the deadliest massacre in the country’s history.—
Evandro Cruz Silva,
The Dial,
10 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pejorative.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pejorative. Accessed 20 Feb. 2026.
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