detractive

adjective

Definition of detractivenext
as in slighting
intended to make a person or thing seem of little importance or value used the detractive epithet "McJob" to describe what his feckless son-in-law did for work

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for detractive
  1. insulting
  2. contemptuous
  3. critical
  4. malicious
  5. disparaging
  6. disdainful
  7. degrading
  8. pejorative
Adjective
  • This disastrous budget is even more insulting as Los Angeles County grapples with the devastation from four major fires.
    Bill Essayli, Orange County Register, 11 Jan. 2025
  • Hinchcliffe, who is not Puerto Rican, was just plain cruel, insulting and dehumanizing.
    David Plazas, The Tennessean, 29 Oct. 2024
Definition of insulting
Adjective
  • Tamil Nadu’s leaders have long been openly contemptuous of Hindu nationalism, and their governing philosophy represents a powerful alternative to Modi’s worldview.
    Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 2 Jan. 2025
  • The Supreme Court could potentially blow up this trend The largest threat to the trend of fewer death sentences and executions is the Supreme Court’s Republican supermajority, which is often contemptuous of precedents handed down by earlier justices who Republican legal elites view as too liberal.
    Ian Millhiser, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
Definition of contemptuous
Adjective
  • Additionally, 25 percent of younger Americans pointed to housing costs as a critical area for government focus, while only 10 percent of those aged 60 and above shared this view.
    Kevin Lynn, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2025
  • This data is critical for identifying high-risk areas and times, enabling authorities to implement targeted safety measures.
    Melissa Cristina Marquez, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025
Definition of critical
Adjective
  • While conceding that standard phishing methods, those that typically require threat actors to craft malicious emails that are delivered to a wide audience, are relatively easy for email platforms to detect and block, that’s not the case with this phishless attack.
    Davey Winder, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2025
  • Alec Baldwin has filed a malicious prosecution lawsuit six months after an involuntary manslaughter charge against him, stemming from the 2021 Rust shooting, was dropped.
    Charmaine Patterson, People.com, 10 Jan. 2025
Definition of malicious
Adjective
  • The 2023 Economic Report Of The President published in March of 2023 was relatively disparaging of cryptoassets and DLTs.
    Lawrence Wintermeyer, Forbes, 5 Dec. 2024
  • Prior to appearing on Cunningham's show on Monday, Huggins made more disparaging remarks about Xavier.
    Emily DeLetter, The Enquirer, 10 May 2023
Definition of disparaging
Adjective
  • Now, the norms for AI will emerge in a political and cultural environment that's hostile to regulation and disdainful of limits.
    Scott Rosenberg, Axios, 8 Jan. 2025
  • By and large, though, in Lyman’s view, conservatives were the new gonzo journalists, the ones sending back authentic reports from high-drama situations, disdainful of institutions and politically correct messaging.
    Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, 20 Dec. 2024
Definition of disdainful
Adjective
  • That smell of vinegar is not just an alarm bell that these objects are destroying themselves but that the degrading polymer is taking down innocent bystanders as well.
    Sarah Everts, Scientific American, 1 Apr. 2016
  • More than 2 million people in the U.S. lack indoor plumbing and more live with failing sewage systems that can result in waste backing up into homes or pooling on the ground, threatening public health and degrading basic dignity, the EPA said.
    San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Feb. 2024
Definition of degrading
Adjective
  • In conservative circles, the pejorative label stuck.
    Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 23 Dec. 2024
  • These asylum seekers came to be known as Vietnamese boat people, a name that has come to be regarded as pejorative — the sort of dehumanizing language often used in indexing immigrants.
    Brendan Quinn, The Athletic, 1 July 2024
Definition of pejorative
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near detractive

detractions

detractive

detractor

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Detractive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/detractive. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.

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