Discredit
[dɪs'kredɪt] or [dɪs'krɛdɪt]
Definition
(verb.) cause to be distrusted or disbelieved; 'The paper discredited the politician with its nasty commentary'.
(verb.) damage the reputation of; 'This newspaper story discredits the politicians'.
Checked by Brits--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The act of discrediting or disbelieving, or the state of being discredited or disbelieved; as, later accounts have brought the story into discredit.
(n.) Hence, some degree of dishonor or disesteem; ill repute; reproach; -- applied to persons or things.
(v. t.) To refuse credence to; not to accept as true; to disbelieve; as, the report is discredited.
(v. t.) To deprive of credibility; to destroy confidence or trust in; to cause disbelief in the accuracy or authority of.
(v. t.) To deprive of credit or good repute; to bring reproach upon; to make less reputable; to disgrace.
Edited by Cecilia
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Disbelief, distrust, doubt.[2]. Disrepute, dishonor, disgrace, reproach, opprobrium, obloquy, odium, ignominy, ill repute.
v. a. [1]. Disbelieve, give no credit to, place no confidence in, refuse credence to.[2]. Disgrace, dishonor, bring reproach upon, make disreputable, BLOW UPON, destroy confidence in, bring into disfavor, make distasteful.
Inputed by Bertha
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See CREDIT]
Checker: Olivier
Definition
n. want of credit: bad credit: ill-repute: disgrace.—v.t. to refuse credit to or belief in: to deprive of credibility: to deprive of credit: to disgrace.—adj. Discred′itable not creditable: disgraceful.—adv. Discred′itably.
Checker: Virgil
Examples
- You could scarcely escape discredit and misery. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- She wished to discredit it entirely, repeatedly exclaiming, This must be false! Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- Live for that, then; live for me, Eugene; live to see how hard I will try to improve myself, and never to discredit you. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- And of course it is a discredit to his doctrines, said Mrs. Sprague, who was elderly, and old-fashioned in her opinions. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- I am happy to be able to inform you, _with truth_, that this gentleman did as much credit to his country as Malone had done it discredit. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Here was muddle and failure enough to discredit any general--had it been known. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Among this number, and I hope it is no discredit to the profession of the law, its great oracle, _Sir Edward Coke_, appears. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- He set out to make the campaign a battle between the Progressives and the Democrats--the old discredited Republicans fell back into a rather dead conservative minority. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- According to an old story, now discredited, as he rose from his knees after the ceremony he whispered to a friend _Eppur si muove_ (It does move, nevertheless). Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- It was then rejected like a discredited ladder. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Perhaps he has a subconscious fear of the isolation that may ensue if the system is broken or discredited. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
Edited by Cary