Meaning & use
denigrated
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“denigrated” is a form of “denigrate”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meaning
verbtransitiveformaldisapproving
Past tense and past participle of denigrate: criticized someone or something unfairly in order to make them seem less worthy.
Grammar: Takes an object: she denigrated his efforts.
Patterns
- denigrate someone
- denigrate something
- be denigrated as something
Critics denigrated the film as shallow, though audiences loved it.
He felt denigrated by the way his colleagues spoke about his ideas.
For years, folk music was denigrated as unsophisticated.
Word forms
| base form | denigrate |
|---|---|
| third person singular | denigrates |
| -ing form | denigrating |
Common combinations
- unfairly denigrated
- The artist felt unfairly denigrated by the press.
- publicly denigrated
- The coach was publicly denigrated after the loss.
- denigrated as lazy
- Young workers are often denigrated as lazy.
- feel denigrated
- Many employees feel denigrated when their contributions are ignored.
- denigrated his opponent
- He denigrated his opponent instead of discussing policy.
Synonyms and how they differ
- belittled
- Belittled focuses on making someone feel small, and it can be used in private conversation, while denigrated sounds more formal and public.
- disparaged
- Disparaged is very close but usually describes speaking of something as having little value, rather than attacking someone's character.
- slandered
- Slandered means saying false things that harm a reputation, and it has legal overtones that denigrated lacks.
- criticized
- Criticized is neutral and can be fair, whereas denigrated always implies the criticism is unfair or excessive.
Opposites
Word family
- denigrate verb
- to criticize unfairly
- denigration noun
- the act of unfairly criticizing
- denigrator noun
- a person who denigrates others
- denigratory adjective
- tending to belittle
Commonly confused: denigrated or denegrated? denigrated or degraded?
denigrated vs denegrated
This is a common misspelling; the correct spelling is denigrated.
denigrated vs degraded
Degraded means lowered in quality or dignity, while denigrated means criticized unfairly in words.
Practice
The author felt that critics had unfairly ___ her first novel.
Choose one answer.
Denigrated means criticized unfairly. Dedicated, designated and delegated sound similar but do not make sense here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “denigrated”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.