Word of the Day

Monday February 15, 2010

denigrate [DEN-i-greyt]

verb

To attack or defame the character or reputation of.

For many, a General Equivalency Diploma might seem insignificant. It sounds of failed attempts and technical defaults, of foolish decisions and dumb mistakes. Dropouts deride it. Preppies denigrate it. That kind of thinking is wrong -- all wrong.

Jesse Doiron, "GED graduates earned their way", Beaumont Enterprise, Jun 7, 2009
So if staff in some universities are inhibited from speaking out for fear of disciplinary action by their employers or because they know that they will be publicly pilloried for appearing to denigrate the efforts of their students, what can be done to remedy the decline in standards generally and the devaluation of university degrees?

Dennis Harding, "It's time we ended this 'prizes for all' culture", Sunday Times, May 31, 2009
Many years ago, at Cambridge, I remember having a sharpish altercation with Rupert Brooke, who had taken it upon himself to denigrate the art of Racine.

Clive Bell (1881 - 1964) An English Art critic. Since Cezanne (1922)

Origin of the Word

Denigrate, approximately 1526, derives from Latin denigratus, past participle of denigrare "to blacken, defame," from de- "completely" + nigr-, stem of niger "black," of unknown origin.