as in insulting
intended to make a person or thing seem of little importance or value
the reviewer used the pejorative word "versifier" to refer to the writer, whose poems had struck a responsive chord with the general public
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Recent Examples of pejorative
In domestic economic policy, trickle-down economics has become a pejorative term.
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Timothy Meyer, Foreign Affairs, 26 June 2018
Video clips — altered in some instances — together with other visual and audio clips presented out of context have led to inappropriate clinical diagnoses and pejorative terms being used to characterize the opponents.
—Anand Kumar, STAT, 25 June 2024
In the years since the encounter was disclosed, Daniels has emerged as a vocal Trump antagonist, sharing her story innumerable times and criticizing the former president with mocking and pejorative jabs.
—Michael R. Sisak, Fortune, 8 May 2024
In the years since the encounter was disclosed, Daniels has emerged as a vocal Trump antagonist, sharing her story in a book and on television and criticizing and the former president with mocking and pejorative jabs.
—TIME, 7 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for pejorative 
Timothy Meyer, Foreign Affairs, 26 June 2018
Video clips — altered in some instances — together with other visual and audio clips presented out of context have led to inappropriate clinical diagnoses and pejorative terms being used to characterize the opponents.
—Anand Kumar, STAT, 25 June 2024
In the years since the encounter was disclosed, Daniels has emerged as a vocal Trump antagonist, sharing her story innumerable times and criticizing the former president with mocking and pejorative jabs.
—Michael R. Sisak, Fortune, 8 May 2024
In the years since the encounter was disclosed, Daniels has emerged as a vocal Trump antagonist, sharing her story in a book and on television and criticizing and the former president with mocking and pejorative jabs.
—TIME, 7 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for pejorative
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pejorative
Adjective
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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
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Hinchcliffe, who is not Puerto Rican, was just plain cruel, insulting and dehumanizing.David Plazas, The Tennessean, 29 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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Despite the incident and the derogatory remark, the FIA stated there would be no additional repercussions, indicating the matter is now closed, according to Motorsport.com.Joseph Epstein, Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2024
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While my reviews tend to be more celebratory than derogatory, my favorite pastime is debating the pros and cons of restaurants.Keith Pandolfi, The Enquirer, 30 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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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
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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
Adjective
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Many of the jobs available to young and inexperienced workers are entry-level roles in the retail, restaurant and service industries, and these jobs are often talked about in a demeaning way.Brandon Busteed, Forbes, 14 Dec. 2024
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Residents suddenly realized that Trump’s demeaning rhetoric about Haitian and Venezuelan immigrants could extend to them.Julia Preston, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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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
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Prior to appearing on Cunningham's show on Monday, Huggins made more disparaging remarks about Xavier.Emily DeLetter, The Enquirer, 10 May 2023
Adjective
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This subsided with unusual speed, however, as cricket fans took instead to sharing the self-deprecatory jokes coming over the border.The Economist, The Economist, 22 June 2019
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Philipps has acquired her 1-million-and-growing Instagram followers through her self-deprecatory humor, raw honesty and vulnerability.Sonja Haller, USA TODAY, 11 July 2018
Adjective
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Though the pollen gunk will pass, he's concerned by a contingent of Twitter trolls who've shared uncomplimentary reviews of his recent North American tour.Jordan Runtagh, PEOPLE.com, 21 Jan. 2022
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Neither party admitted to liability and each agreed to refrain from making disparaging, negative or uncomplimentary statements about the other, the document said.Lorraine Mirabella, Baltimore Sun, 29 July 2022
Adjective
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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
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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
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Cite this Entry
“Pejorative.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pejorative. Accessed 17 Jan. 2025.
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