belittle

English

WOTD – 19 January 2009

Etymology

From be- +‎ little. Coined by Thomas Jefferson in 1782.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /bɪˈlɪt.əl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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  Rhymes: -ɪtəl

Verb

belittle (third-person singular simple present belittles, present participle belittling, simple past and past participle belittled)

1. (ambitransitive) To knowingly say that (someone or something) is smaller or less important than it actually is, especially as a way of showing contempt or deprecation. [from 1782]

   Synonyms: understate, make light of, denigrate, degrade, deprecate, disparage, downplay, play down, trivialize, bagatellize, abase; see also Thesaurus:trivialize

   Antonyms: big up, exaggerate; see also Thesaurus:exaggerate

   Don't belittle your colleagues.

   • 1941 March, “Notes and News: Underestimating the Enemy's Strength”, in Railway Magazine, page 129:

     An essential part of any German campaign is obviously the efficiency of its lines of communication and therefore it is dangerous to belittle our enemy's strength in this direction.

   • 2006, Mark Steyn, chapter 9, in America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, →ISBN, page 201:

     Under the rules as understood by the New York Times, the West is free to mock and belittle its Judeo-Christian inheritance, and, likewise, the Muslim world is free to mock and belittle the West's Judeo-Christian inheritance.

   • 2025 April 11, Carol Burton, “What We Believed About America”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 April 2025:

     For many of us, the realization that people in power, regardless of political party, would belittle, name call and seek retribution has been a shock.

2. (transitive) To make small.

   Synonyms: abase, besmall, smallify; see also Thesaurus:diminish

   • 2022, Ian McEwan, Lessons, page 357:

     Now, the big blue space of river and sky belittled him, ulled him back into bewildered childhood.

Derived terms

• belittled
• belittlement
• belittler
• belittling
• unbelittled

Translations

to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is

• Arabic: صَغَّرَ (ar) (ṣaḡḡara), اِحْتَقَرَ (iḥtaqara)
• Armenian: նվազեցնել (hy) (nvazecʻnel), պակասեցնել (hy) (pakasecʻnel)
• Bulgarian: омаловажавам (bg) (omalovažavam)
• Catalan: menysprear (ca), menystenir (ca), menystindre
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 貶低 / 贬低 (zh) (biǎndī), 輕視 / 轻视 (zh) (qīngshì) (to look down on)

• Czech: shazovat (cs), bagatelizovat (cs)
• Dutch: kleineren (nl), afkraken (nl) (more destructive)
• Finnish: vähätellä (fi)
• French: déprécier (fr), rabaisser (fr)
• Galician: menosprezar (gl)
• German: schmälern (de), herunterspielen (de), herabsetzen (de), kleinreden (de), verniedlichen (de)
• Hungarian: lekicsinyel (hu), bagatellizál (hu), elbagatellizál (hu)
• Italian: sminuire (it)
• Japanese: 侮る (ja) (anadoru), 軽視する (ja) (keishi suru), 矮小化する (ja) (waishōka suru)
• Macedonian: омаловажува (omalovažuva)
• Malayalam: ഇകഴ്ത്തുക (ikaḻttuka), കൊച്ചാക്കുക (ml) (koccākkuka) (idiomatic)
• Māori: tānoa
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nedvurdere, fornedre; bagatellisere (no)

• Occitan: denigrar, mespresar (oc), despreciar (oc), rebaissar
• Polish: lekceważyć (pl) impf, zlekceważyć (pl) pf, bagatelizować (pl) impf, zbagatelizować (pl) pf
• Portuguese: depreciar (pt)
• Romanian: deprecia (ro), minimaliza (ro)
• Russian: занижа́ть (ru) impf (zanižátʹ), принижа́ть (ru) impf (prinižátʹ), преуменьша́ть (ru) impf (preumenʹšátʹ), умаля́ть (ru) impf (umaljátʹ), недооце́нивать (ru) impf (nedoocénivatʹ)
• Spanish: menospreciar (es), minimizar (es), disminuir (es), empequeñecer (es)
• Swedish: förringa (sv), förminska (sv)
• Tagalog: maliit (maliitin)
• Turkish: küçümsemek (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: آشاغیلامق (aşağılamak)

• Ukrainian: прини́жувати impf (prynýžuvaty), прини́зити pf (prynýzyty)