depreciate

English

Alternative forms

• depretiate (archaic)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English depreciaten, borrowed from Late Latin dēpretiātus / dēpreciātus, perfect passive participle of dēpretiō / dēpreciō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from dē- + pretium (“price”) + -ō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (UK) /dɪˈpɹiːʃɪeɪt/, (US) /dəˈpriʃiˌeɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Verb

depreciate (third-person singular simple present depreciates, present participle depreciating, simple past and past participle depreciated)

1. (transitive) To lessen in price or estimated value; to lower the worth of.

   Synonyms: degrade, devalue, devaluate; see also Thesaurus:debase

   Antonyms: appreciate, upvalue

   • 1678, Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe:

     […] which […] some over-severe philosophers may look upon fastidiously, or undervalue and depreciate.

   • 1 December, 1783, Edmund Burke, speech on Fox's East India Bill:

     To prove that the Americans ought not to be free, we are obliged to depreciate the value of freedom itself.

2. (intransitive) To decline in value over time.

   Synonym: devalue

   Antonym: appreciate

3. (transitive) To belittle or disparage.

   Synonyms: badmouth; cut down to size; see also Thesaurus:defame, Thesaurus:demean

   Antonyms: aggrandize, (slang) big up; see also Thesaurus:aggrandize

   They depreciated him because he was the youngest on the team.

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with deprecate (“to disapprove of”). The meaning of deprecate has lately been encroaching on depreciate 'to belittle' (see self-deprecate).

Derived terms

• depreciative
• depreciator
• depreciatory
• nondepreciated
• self-depreciate
• undepreciated

Related terms

• appreciate
• precious
• price
• prize

Translations

(tr.) to lessen in price or value

• Bulgarian: обезценявам (bg) (obezcenjavam)
• Catalan: depreciar (ca), devaluar (ca)
• Finnish: alentaa (fi), laskea (fi), halventaa (fi)
• French: déprécier (fr)
• German: herabsetzen (de)
• Hebrew: הפחית (hifchit), קזז (he) (kizez)
• Hungarian: leértékel (hu), devalvál (hu), elértéktelenít (hu)
• Italian: deprezzare (it)
• Macedonian: обезвредни (obezvredni)
• Polish: deprecjonować (pl) impf
• Romanian: deprecia (ro), diminua (ro), micșora (ro)
• Russian: обесценивать (ru) impf (obescenivatʹ), обесценить (ru) pf (obescenitʹ)
• Spanish: depreciar (es)

(intr.) to decline in value over time

• Bulgarian: обезценявам се (obezcenjavam se)
• Catalan: depreciar (ca)
• Finnish: alentua (fi), laskea (fi), halveta (fi)
• German: abschreiben (de)
• Hungarian: leértékelődik (hu), devalválódik (hu), elértéktelenedik (hu)
• Italian: deprezzarsi
• Latin: ēvīlescō
• Romanian: se deprecia, se diminua, se micșora
• Russian: обесцениваться (ru) impf (obescenivatʹsja), обесцениться (ru) pf (obescenitʹsja)
• Yao (Africa): kugwa

to belittle — see belittle

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

• French: déprécier (fr)
• German: abwerten (de), entwerten (de)
• Māori: whakaheke uara

Anagrams

• etacepride

Spanish

Verb

depreciate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of depreciar combined with te