Meanings
present singular third person deprecates · participle present deprecating · participle past deprecated · past deprecated
- transitiveTo express disapproval of, protest or plead against.
She deprecated any action which might disturb the peace.
2 more examples
They deprecated the attempt to deny aid to homeless people.
He spoke of Ethel continually; entreated her to forgive him; deprecated her coldness; and implored her to retract her refusal.
1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Return to Courtenaye Hall”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 150Synonyms: disparage, denounce, admonish, animadvert, bash, bawl out, tilt, clobber · Antonyms: recommend, endorse
- transitiveTo belittle, depreciate.
He deprecates any praise of his own merits.
1 more example
Prior to the 1980s, Australian English had been widely deprecated by Australians themselves, principally as a result of a sense of inferiority known as "cultural cringe".
2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes, page 295Synonyms: disparage, make light of, bagatellize, banalize, belittle, cut down, de-emphasize, denigrate · Antonyms: praise, commend, big up, cut it fat, exaggerate, hyperbolize, overcharge, overdo
- transitivecomputingTo declare something obsolescent; to recommend against a function, technique, command, etc. that still works but has been replaced.
It is still supported but strongly deprecated.
2 more examples
The 'bold' tag has been deprecated in favour of the 'strong' tag.
A deprecated function works in the currently released version of Perl 5 but may not be supported in future releases of Perl 5.
2003, Dave Evans et al., Perl, CGI, and JavaScript Complete, Sybex, →ISBNSynonyms: disrecommend, unprescribe
- archaictransitiveTo pray against.
[…], though the Temporal Judgments which We Deprecate, are not remov’d.
1712, George Smalridge, A Sermon, Preach’d at the Royal Chapel at St. James’s on Wedneſday, January the 16th, 1711/12, London: Jonah Bowyer, page 181 more example
And in deprecating of Evil, we make an humble Acknowledgement of Guilt; and of God’s Juſtice in chaſtizing, as well as Clemency, in ſparing the Guilty.
1701, Nehemiah Grew, Cosmologia Sacra, London: W. Rogers, S. Smith, and B. Walford, page 126
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo express disapproval of, protest or plead against.
verbTo belittle, depreciate.
verbTo declare something obsolescent; to recommend against a function, technique, command, etc. that still works but has been replaced.
verbTo regret deeply.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindēprecātus
- Englishdeprecate
Borrowed from Latin dēprecātus, perfect active participle of dēprecor (“to pray against (a present or impending evil) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), pray for, intercede for (that which is in danger), rarely imprecate”), from dē- (“off”) + precor (“to pray”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian не одобря́вам
- не одобря́вам (ne odobrjávam)express disapproval of
Chinese Mandarin 反對 /反对, 抗議 /抗议
- 反對 /反对 (fǎnduì)express disapproval of
- 抗議 /抗议 (kàngyì)express disapproval of
- 貶低 /贬低 (biǎndī)belittle
- 輕視 /轻视 (qīngshì)belittle
- 棄用 /弃用 (qìyòng)declare obsolescent
- 淘汰 (táotài)declare obsolescent
- 祈禱反對 /祈祷反对 (qídǎo fǎnduì)pray against
- 深感遺憾 /深感遗憾 (shēngǎn yíhàn)regret deeply
- 深深後悔 /深深后悔 (shēnshēn hòuhuǐ)regret deeply
Czech neschvalovat, zavrhovat
- neschvalovatexpress disapproval of
- zavrhovatexpress disapproval of
- odmítatexpress disapproval of
- nesouhlasitexpress disapproval of
- snižovatbelittle
- znevažovatbelittle
Dutch afkeuren, als verouderd verklaren
- afkeurenexpress disapproval of
- als verouderd verklarendeclare obsolescent
Esperanto mallaŭdi, arkaikigi
- mallaŭdiexpress disapproval of
- arkaikigideclare obsolescent
Finnish tuomita, paheksua
- tuomitaexpress disapproval of
- paheksuaexpress disapproval of
- väheksyäexpress disapproval of
- vähätelläexpress disapproval of
- vähätelläbelittle
- merkitä vanhentuneeksideclare obsolescent
- poistaa käytöstädeclare obsolescent
- rukoilla vastaanpray against
- katua syvästiregret deeply
French désapprouver de
- désapprouver deexpress disapproval of
German ablehnen, missbilligen
- ablehnenexpress disapproval of
- missbilligenexpress disapproval of
- nicht gutheißenexpress disapproval of
- als überholt einstufendeclare obsolescent
- als veraltet einstufendeclare obsolescent
- beten dagegenpray against
Hebrew הכריז כמיושן
- הכריז כמיושן (hikhríz kimyushán)declare obsolescent
Hungarian helytelenít, elítél
- helytelenítexpress disapproval of
- elítélexpress disapproval of
- rosszallexpress disapproval of
- elavultnak minősítdeclare obsolescent
Italian deprecare
- deprecareexpress disapproval of
Japanese 非難する, 終了する
- 非難する (hinan suru)express disapproval of
- 終了する (shūryō suru)declare obsolescent
Norwegian utdatere
- utdateredeclare obsolescent
Polish dezaktualizować, zdezaktualizować
- dezaktualizowaćdeclare obsolescent
- zdezaktualizowaćdeclare obsolescent
- unieważniaćdeclare obsolescent
- unieważnićdeclare obsolescent
Portuguese depreciar, descontinuar
- depreciarexpress disapproval of
- descontinuardeclare obsolescent
Russian возража́ть, возрази́ть
- возража́ть (vozražátʹ)express disapproval of
- возрази́ть (vozrazítʹ)express disapproval of
- протестова́ть (protestovátʹ)express disapproval of
- выступа́ть про́тив (vystupátʹ prótiv)express disapproval of
- ре́зко осужда́ть (rézko osuždátʹ)express disapproval of
- не одобря́ть (ne odobrjátʹ)express disapproval of
- приостана́вливать (priostanávlivatʹ)declare obsolescent
- приостанови́ть (priostanovítʹ)declare obsolescent
- прекраща́ть (prekraščátʹ)declare obsolescent
- прекрати́ть (prekratítʹ)declare obsolescent
Spanish deprecar
- deprecarpray against
Swedish avråda, avstyrka
- avrådaexpress disapproval of
- avstyrkaexpress disapproval of
- avsväraexpress disapproval of
- avrådadeclare obsolescent
- avsägapray against
- avsvärapray against
- ta avstånd frånpray against
Cite this entry
deprecate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deprecate
“deprecate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deprecate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “deprecate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deprecate.
Source: deprecate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.