Word of the Day

: October 22, 2007

denigrate

verb DEN-ih-grayt

What It Means

1 : to attack the reputation of : defame

2 : to deny the importance or validity of : belittle

denigrate in Context

Although some medical experts denigrate the new technology, others believe that the experimental results have been quite promising.

Did You Know?

If you "denigrate" someone, you attempt to blacken their reputation. It makes sense, therefore, that "denigrate" can be traced back to the Latin verb "denigrare," meaning "to blacken." When "denigrate" was first used in English in the 16th century, it meant to cast aspersions on someone's character or reputation. Eventually, it developed a second sense of "to make black" ("factory smoke denigrated the sky"), but this sense is somewhat rare in modern usage. Nowadays, of course, "denigrate" can also refer to belittling the worth or importance of someone or something.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.