denigrate

English

WOTD – 28 June 2009

Etymology

From Latin dēnigrātus, the past participle of dēnigrāre (“to blacken”), from dē + nigrare (“to blacken”) (from niger (“black”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛn.ɪ.ɡɹeɪt/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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Verb

1. (transitive) To criticise so as to besmirch; traduce, disparage or defame.
   • 1963 January, “Beyond the Channel: U.S.S.R.”, in Modern Railways, page 62:

     Although in public Soviet officials tend to denigrate the French electric locomotives imported recently, there is little doubt that lessons learnt from these engines will be incorporated in new Russian designs.

2. (transitive) To treat as worthless; belittle, degrade or disparage.

   You have no right to denigrate people and things that you have no personal experience with.

3. (rare) To blacken.

Derived terms

• denigration
• denigratory

Translations

to criticise so as to besmirch

• Armenian: սևացնել (sewacʻnel)
• Bulgarian: очерням (bg) (očernjam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 玷污 (zh) (diànwù), 詆毀／诋毁 (zh) (dǐhuǐ), 诋毁 (zh) (dǐhuǐ)

• Czech: pošpinit (cs)
• Dutch: kleineren (nl), denigreren (nl)
• Finnish: mustamaalata (fi), mustata (fi)
• French: dénigrer (fr), médire (fr)
• German: anschwärzen (de), verleumden (de), verunglimpfen (de)
• Hungarian: gyaláz (hu), becsmérel (hu), rágalmaz (hu), megrágalmaz (hu), szidalmaz, szapul, befeketít (hu), mocskol (hu)
• Italian: denigrare (it), criticare (it), sparlare (it), parlare male (it), diffamare (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 侮辱する (ja) (ぶじょくする, bujoku suru)
• Macedonian: оцр́нува (ocŕnuva)
• Maori: whakarōriki, whakahahani, whakatoihara, whakatakē, whakahāwea
• Polish: uwłaczać, oczerniać (pl)
• Portuguese: denegrir (pt)
• Russian: клевета́ть (ru) (klevetátʹ), нагова́ривать (ru) (nagovárivatʹ), очерня́ть (ru) (očernjátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: ocrniti (sh)
• Spanish: denigrar (es)
• Swedish: svärta ner, racka ned på
• Turkish: karalatmak (tr), siyahlatmak (tr)

to treat as worthless

• Bulgarian: омаловажавам (bg) (omalovažavam)
• Czech: znevažovat
• Dutch: kleineren (nl), denigreren (nl)
• Finnish: vähätellä (fi)
• French: dénigrer (fr), rabaisser (fr), déprécier (fr)
• German: verleumden (de), verunglimpfen (de), herabsetzen (de)
• Hungarian: ócsárol (hu), pocskondiáz, lefitymál (hu), lekicsinyel (hu), bagatellizál (hu), elbagatellizál (hu)
• Macedonian: омаловажува (omalovažuva), понижува (ponižuva)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: whakatūtūā, whakamanumanu
• Polish: pomniejszyć, umniejszać (pl)
• Portuguese: denegrir (pt)
• Russian: преуменьшать (ru) impf (preumenʹšatʹ), умалять (ru) impf (umaljatʹ), принижать (ru) impf (prinižatʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: dèan dìmeas air
• Spanish: denigrar (es)
• Turkish: aşağılamak (tr), iftira etmek (tr), kara çalmak (tr)

blacken

• Armenian: սևացնել (sewacʻnel)
• Bulgarian: почерням (bg) (počernjam)
• Dutch: zwartmaken (nl)
• Finnish: mustata (fi), pimentää
• French: noircir (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Galician: denegrir
• German: anschwärzen (de)
• Hungarian: befeketít (hu)
• Macedonian: оцр́нува (ocŕnuva)
• Russian: черни́ть (ru) (černítʹ)
• Turkish: karalatmak (tr), siyahlatmak (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Ido: ^{(please verify)} denigrar (io)
• (deprecated template usage) Indonesian: mencemooh?
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} denigrare (it)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} küçümsemek (tr), ^{(please verify)} kötülemek (tr)

References

• “denigrate”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• antigreed, dinergate, giant reed, gratinéed

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Italian

Verb

denigrate

1. second-person plural present and imperative of denigrare

Anagrams

• gradiente