Meaning & use
belittle
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Meaning
verbtransitive
To speak about someone or something as if they are small, unimportant or not worth respect.
Grammar: Takes an object: belittle his efforts.
Patterns
- belittle someone
- belittle something
Good managers never belittle their staff in public.
He tried to belittle her achievements by calling them luck.
Don't belittle yourself; your work is excellent.
Word forms
| third person singular | belittles |
|---|---|
| past tense | belittled |
| past participle | belittled |
| -ing form | belittling |
Common combinations
- belittle someone's efforts
- She felt he belittled her efforts.
- belittle yourself
- Stop belittling yourself.
- belittle an achievement
- Critics tried to belittle the team's achievement.
- belittling remark
- His belittling remarks upset everyone.
- feel belittled
- The students felt belittled by the harsh feedback.
Synonyms and how they differ
- disparage
- More formal, and means speaking about something as if it has little worth.
- demean
- Suggests lowering someone's dignity, not just their importance.
- downplay
- Means making something seem less serious, and is not always meant to hurt.
- put down
- An informal phrasal verb meaning to criticize someone to make them feel small.
Opposites
Word family
- belittling adjective
- making someone feel unimportant
- little adjective
- small
Commonly confused: belittle or underestimate?
belittle vs underestimate
Underestimate is a private misjudgment of size or ability, while belittle is something you say or do to someone.
Practice
Which action best shows someone trying to belittle a colleague?
Choose one answer.
Belittling means making someone seem unimportant, as the patronizing remark does. The other options are respectful or neutral.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “belittle”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.