Meanings
verbbelittle (third-person singular simple present belittles, present participle belittling, simple past and past participle belittled)
present singular third person belittles · participle present belittling · participle past belittled · past belittled
- ambitransitiveTo disparage, depreciate, or minimize the importance, value, merit, or significance of someone or something.First known use 1782
Don't belittle your colleagues.
3 more examples
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.
1941 March, “Notes and News: Underestimating the Enemy's Strength”, in Railway Magazine, page 129Under 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.
2006, Mark Steyn, chapter 9, in America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, →ISBN, page 201For many of us, the realization that people in power, regardless of political party, would belittle, name call and seek retribution has been a shock.
2025 April 11, Carol Burton, “What We Believed About America”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Apr 2025Synonyms: understate, make light of, denigrate, degrade, deprecate, disparage, downplay, play down · Antonyms: big up, exaggerate, big up, cut it fat, exaggerate, hyperbolize, overcharge, overdo
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo disparage, depreciate, or minimize the importance, value, merit, or significance of someone or something.
Similar
verbTo make small.
More synonyms by meaning
verbcause to seem less serious; play down
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From be- + little. Coined by Thomas Jefferson in 1782.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic صَغَّرَ, اِحْتَقَرَ
- صَغَّرَ (ṣaḡḡara)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- اِحْتَقَرَ (iḥtaqara)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Bulgarian омаловажавам
- омаловажавам (omalovažavam)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Catalan menysprear, menystenir
- menysprearto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- menystenirto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- menystindreto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Chinese Mandarin 貶低 /贬低, 輕視 /轻视
- 貶低 /贬低 (biǎndī)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- 輕視 /轻视 (qīngshì)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Czech shazovat, bagatelizovat
- shazovatto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- bagatelizovatto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Dutch kleineren, afkraken
- kleinerento knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- afkrakento knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Finnish vähätellä
- vähätelläto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
French déprécier, rabaisser
- déprécierto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- rabaisserto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
German schmälern, herunterspielen
- schmälernto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- herunterspielento knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- herabsetzento knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- kleinredento knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- verniedlichento knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Hungarian lekicsinyel, bagatellizál
- lekicsinyelto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- bagatellizálto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- elbagatellizálto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Italian sminuire
- sminuireto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Japanese 侮る, 軽視する
- 侮る (anadoru)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- 軽視する (keishi suru)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- 矮小化する (waishōka suru)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Māori tānoa
- tānoato knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Norwegian Bokmål nedvurdere, fornedre
- nedvurdereto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- fornedreto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- bagatellisereto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Polish lekceważyć, zlekceważyć
- lekceważyćto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- zlekceważyćto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- bagatelizowaćto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- zbagatelizowaćto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Portuguese depreciar
- depreciarto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Romanian deprecia, minimaliza
- depreciato knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- minimalizato knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Russian занижа́ть, принижа́ть
- занижа́ть (zanižátʹ)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- принижа́ть (prinižátʹ)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- преуменьша́ть (preumenʹšátʹ)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- умаля́ть (umaljátʹ)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- недооце́нивать (nedoocénivatʹ)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Spanish menospreciar, minimizar
- menospreciarto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- minimizarto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- disminuirto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- empequeñecerto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Swedish förringa, förminska
- förringato knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- förminskato knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Tagalog maliit (maliitin)
- maliit (maliitin)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Turkish küçümsemek
- küçümsemekto knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Ukrainian прини́жувати, прини́зити
- прини́жувати (prynýžuvaty)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
- прини́зити (prynýzyty)to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with belittle
brittlewhittleacquittalsagittalcommittalspittleBittleskittleHittlevictualdorsosagittalectosagittaljot and tittlemediosagittalmidsagittalnonsagittalparasagittalpittlepseudosagittalwittol
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
belittle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/belittle
MLA
“belittle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/belittle. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “belittle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/belittle.
Source: belittle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.