Meanings
present singular third person denigrates · participle present denigrating · participle past denigrated · past denigrated
- transitiveTo criticize so as to besmirch; traduce, disparage or defame.
What grand engines they were! Yet I have noticed a disposition on the part of quite a diversity of present-day commentators to denigrate those engines.
1960 May 28, O. S. Nock, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 3431 more example
Although in public Soviet officials tend to denigrate the French electric locomotives imported recently, there is little doubt that lessons learnt from these engines will be incorporated in new Russian designs.
1963 January, “Beyond the Channel: U.S.S.R.”, in Modern Railways, page 62Synonyms: badmouth, besmirch, slander, assassinate, asperse, backbite, badmouth, befoul
- transitiveTo treat as worthless; belittle, degrade or disparage.
You have no right to denigrate people and things that you have no personal experience with.
Synonyms: banalize, deprecate, make light of, bagatellize, banalize, belittle, cut down, de-emphasize
comparative more denigrate · superlative most denigrate
- transitivebiologyBlackened.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo criticize so as to besmirch; traduce, disparage or defame.
verbTo treat as worthless; belittle, degrade or disparage.
verbTo blacken.
More synonyms by meaning
verbcause to seem less serious; play down
verbcharge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindēnigrātus
- Englishdenigrate
Derived from Latin dēnigrātus, the perfect passive participle of dēnigrō (“to blacken”) [see -ate (verb-forming suffix)], from dē- (“of; from”) + nigrō (“to blacken”) [from niger (“black”)]. Cognate with Middle English denigart(e) (“darkened, discolored”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic سَوَّدَ
- سَوَّدَ (sawwada)to blacken
Bulgarian очерням, омаловажавам
- очерням (očernjam)to criticize so as to besmirch
- омаловажавам (omalovažavam)to treat as worthless
- почерням (počernjam)to blacken
Catalan denigrar
- denigrarto criticize so as to besmirch
Chinese Mandarin 玷污, 詆毀 /诋毁
- 玷污 (diànwū)to criticize so as to besmirch
- 詆毀 /诋毁 (dǐhuǐ)to criticize so as to besmirch
Czech pošpinit, znevažovat
- pošpinitto criticize so as to besmirch
- znevažovatto treat as worthless
Dutch kleineren, denigreren
- kleinerento criticize so as to besmirch
- denigrerento criticize so as to besmirch
- kleinerento treat as worthless
- denigrerento treat as worthless
- zwartmakento blacken
Finnish mustamaalata, mustata
- mustamaalatato criticize so as to besmirch
- mustatato criticize so as to besmirch
- vähätelläto treat as worthless
- mustatato blacken
- pimentääto blacken
French dénigrer, médire
- dénigrerto criticize so as to besmirch
- médireto criticize so as to besmirch
- dénigrerto treat as worthless
- rabaisserto treat as worthless
- déprécierto treat as worthless
- noircirto blacken
German anschwärzen, verleumden
- anschwärzento criticize so as to besmirch
- verleumdento criticize so as to besmirch
- verunglimpfento criticize so as to besmirch
- besudelnto criticize so as to besmirch
- in Verruf bringento criticize so as to besmirch
- verleumdento treat as worthless
- verunglimpfento treat as worthless
- herabsetzento treat as worthless
- anschwärzento blacken
Hungarian gyaláz, becsmérel
- gyalázto criticize so as to besmirch
- becsmérelto criticize so as to besmirch
- rágalmazto criticize so as to besmirch
- megrágalmazto criticize so as to besmirch
- szidalmazto criticize so as to besmirch
- szapulto criticize so as to besmirch
- befeketítto criticize so as to besmirch
- mocskolto criticize so as to besmirch
- ócsárolto treat as worthless
- pocskondiázto treat as worthless
- lefitymálto treat as worthless
- lekicsinyelto treat as worthless
Italian denigrare, criticare
- denigrareto criticize so as to besmirch
- criticareto criticize so as to besmirch
- sparlareto criticize so as to besmirch
- parlare maleto criticize so as to besmirch
- diffamareto criticize so as to besmirch
Japanese 侮辱する
- 侮辱する (bujoku suru)to criticize so as to besmirch
Māori whakarōriki, whakahahani
- whakarōrikito criticize so as to besmirch
- whakahahanito criticize so as to besmirch
- whakatoiharato criticize so as to besmirch
- whakatakēto criticize so as to besmirch
- whakahāweato criticize so as to besmirch
- whakatūtūāto treat as worthless
- whakamanumanuto treat as worthless
Norwegian Bokmål sverte, rakke ned
- sverteto criticize so as to besmirch
- rakke nedto criticize so as to besmirch
Polish uwłaczać, oczerniać
- uwłaczaćto criticize so as to besmirch
- oczerniaćto criticize so as to besmirch
- pomniejszyćto treat as worthless
- umniejszaćto treat as worthless
Portuguese denegrir, denegrir
- denegrirto criticize so as to besmirch
- denegrirto treat as worthless
Russian клевета́ть, нагова́ривать
- клевета́ть (klevetátʹ)to criticize so as to besmirch
- нагова́ривать (nagovárivatʹ)to criticize so as to besmirch
- очерня́ть (očernjátʹ)to criticize so as to besmirch
- преуменьшать (preumenʹšatʹ)to treat as worthless
- умалять (umaljatʹ)to treat as worthless
- принижать (prinižatʹ)to treat as worthless
- черни́ть (černítʹ)to blacken
Scottish Gaelic dèan dìmeas air
- dèan dìmeas airto treat as worthless
Spanish denigrar, denigrar
- denigrarto criticize so as to besmirch
- denigrarto treat as worthless
Swedish svärta ner, racka ned på
- svärta nerto criticize so as to besmirch
- racka ned påto criticize so as to besmirch
Turkish karalamak, aşağılamak
- karalamakto criticize so as to besmirch
- aşağılamakto treat as worthless
- iftira etmekto treat as worthless
- kara çalmakto treat as worthless
- karalamakto blacken
- siyahlatmakto blacken
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
denigrate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/denigrate
“denigrate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/denigrate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “denigrate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/denigrate.
Source: denigrate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.