2021-05-28
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด – B – belittle & disparage
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Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง belittle = ‘bih-LIT-l’
ออกเสียง disparage = ‘dih-SPAR-ij’
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Choose the Right Synonym for belittle
DECRY, DEPRECIATE, DISPARAGE, BELITTLE
mean to express a low opinion of.
DECRY implies open condemnation with intent to discredit.
decried their defeatist attitude
DEPRECIATE implies a representing as being of less value than commonly believed.
critics depreciate his plays for being unabashedly sentimental
DISPARAGE implies depreciation by indirect means such as slighting or invidious comparison.
disparaged polo as a game for the rich
BELITTLE usually suggests a contemptuous or envious attitude.
belittled the achievements of others
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Belittle
“Belittle! — What an expression!
— It may be an elegant one in Virginia,
and even perhaps perfectly intelligible;
but for our part, all we can do is, to guess at its meaning.
—For shame, Mr. Jefferson!” — The London Review, August 1787
About the Word:
Thomas Jefferson was not yet president
when he was scolded by a British reviewer
for his coinage ofthe word belittle,
but the reaction to this word was so overheated
that it deserves a mention nonetheless.
Jefferson had recently publishedhis two-volume work
Notes on the State of Virginia (it was released privately in the early 1780s, and published publicly in 1787),
a book which contained the line
“So far the Count de Buffon has carried this new theory of the tendency of nature to belittle her productions on this side of the Atlantic.”
An anonymous critic for the London Review
seethed when he encounteredthis word.
In addition to his splenetic jibe quoted above,
he wrote “Freely, good sir, we will forgive you all your attacks,
impotent as they are illiberal, upon our national character;
but for the future, spare—O spare, we beseech you, our mother-tongue!”
Definition:
: to speak slightingly of: disparage:
to cause (a person or thing) to seem little or less
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Choose the Right Synonym for disparage
DECRY, DEPRECIATE, DISPARAGE, BELITTLE
mean to express a low opinion of.
DECRY implies open condemnation with intent to discredit.
decried their defeatist attitude
DEPRECIATE implies a representing as being of less value than commonly believed.
critics depreciate his plays for being unabashedly sentimental
DISPARAGE implies depreciation by indirect means such as slighting or invidious comparison.
disparaged polo as a game for the rich
BELITTLE usually suggests a contemptuous or envious attitude.
belittled the achievements of others
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Did You Know?
In Middle English, to disparage someone
meant causingthat person to marry someone of inferior rank.
Disparage derives from the Anglo-French word desparager,
meaning "to marry below one's class."
Desparager, in turn, combines the negative prefix des- with parage
("equality" or "lineage"), which itself comes from per, meaning "peer."
The original"marriage" sense of disparage is nowobsolete,
but a closely-related sense ("to lower in rank or reputation")
survives inmodern English.
By the 16th century, English speakers (including Shakespeare)
were alsousing disparage to mean simply "to belittle."
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Clapper: "There’s a difference between skepticism and disparagement"
The word disparage has been used widely
in reporting on Donald Trump's Twitter account
Disparage (“to speak slightingly about”)
became one of our most searched-for words on January 5th, 2017,
after a number of news outlets employedthe word
while reporting on the ongoing contretemps
between president-elect Donald Trump and various entities.
Trump took to Twitterto disparage the 193-member world body
after the United States abstained in a Dec. 23 U.N. Security Council vote, allowing the adoption of a resolution demanding an end to settlement building by U.S. ally Israel.
—Michelle Nichols, Reuters.com, 4 Jan. 2017
Trump’s use of Twitter todo everything from thanking his voters to disparaging news organizations and making policy pronouncements has upended existing expectations forits role in the government.
—Madeline Conway, Politico.com, 5 Jan. 2017
“There’s a differencebetween skepticism and disparagement,”
said James Clapper, stepping into an extraordinary public dispute
between the incoming president and
the intelligence agencies Trump will soon control.
—Spencer Ackerman & Julian Borger, The Guardian, 5 Jan. 2017
Disparage is not a new word in our language;
it has been in consistent use since the 14th century,
and has had a small range of meanings.
Of these, the one being usedin recent news
is one of the newer ones;
disparage does not appear to have taken on the “belittle” meaning until the 16th century.
The word’s earliest knownmeaning is little used today:
“to lower or degradeespecially by marriage to one socially inferior.”
Dictionary of Problem Words in English
belittle & disparage
These words are related in meaning:
“to speak of as unimportant,”
“to regard something as less important or impressive than it apparently is.”
Disparage isa stronger word than belittle
inthat it tends to bring reproach or discredit
uponthe topic being considered,
whereas belittle means simply
“to make less,”
“to minimize”:
“Don’t belittle my efforts; I’m trying hard.”
“The prosecuting attorney disparaged the testimony of the witness.”
