Belittle
[bɪ'lɪt(ə)l] or [bɪ'lɪtl]
Definition
(v. t.) To make little or less in a moral sense; to speak of in a depreciatory or contemptuous way.
Editor: Rodney
Definition
v.t. to make small: to cause to appear small to depreciate or disparage.—n. Belit′tlement.—adj. Belit′tling.
Checker: Sabina
Examples
- But you belittle ME, don't you, she returned gently, in being so sure they are the only things I care for? Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Thus taken, the influence of heredity is opposed to that of the environment, and the efficacy of the latter belittled. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Gudrun looked aside, feeling she was being belittled. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- The copperhead disreputable portion of the press magnified rebel successes, and belittled those of the Union army. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- It all seemed to her so false and so belittling. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
Typed by Carlyle