disparagement

noun

something that derogates or casts in a bad light, as a remark or censorious essay.

Origin:
1480–90; < Anglo-French, Middle French desparagement, equivalent to desparag(ier) to disparage + -ment -ment

Related forms

self-dis·par·age·ment, noun

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World English Dictionary

disparage (dɪˈspærɪdʒ)

—vb
1.	to speak contemptuously of; belittle
2.	to damage the reputation of

[C14: from Old French desparagier, from des-dis-¹ + parage equality, from Latin par equal]

dis'paragement

—n

dis'parager

—n

dis'paraging

—*adj*

dis'paragingly

—*adv*

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Disparagement is always a great word to know.

So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

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Word Origin & History

disparagement

late 15c., from O.Fr. desparagement, from desparagier (see disparage).

Example sentences

To state a claim for commercial disparagement, special damages must be pleaded.

Yet he remained thin-skinned about any disparagement.

It is no disparagement to truth, that it can only prevail where reason prevails.

None of this is intended as disparagement of his acting ability.

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Related Words

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disvalue mister

Matching Quote

"We need to distinguish between nostalgia and the reassuring memory of happy times, which serves to link the present to the past and to provide a sense of continuity. The emotional appeal of happy memories does not depend on disparagement of the present, the hallmark of the nostalgic attitude. Nostalgia appeals to the feeling that the past offered delights no longer obtainable. Nostalgic representations of the past evoke a time irretrievably lost and for that reason timeless and unchanging. Strictly speaking, nostalgia does not entail the exercise of memory at all, since the past it idealizes stands outside time, frozen in unchanging perfection. Memory too may idealize the past, but not in order to condemn the present. It draws hope and comfort from the past in order to enrich the present and to face what comes with good cheer."

-Christopher Lasch