Belittle

Definitions: Belittle

Belittle

Verb

1. Belittle; "Don't belittle his influence".

2. Express a negative opinion of; "She disparaged her student's efforts".

3. Lessen the authority, dignity, or reputation of; "don't belittle your colleagues".

Date "belittle" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references)

Note: Belittle \Be*lit"tle\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Belittled; present participle verb or noun Belittling.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Belittle

Synonyms: denigrate (v), derogate (v), diminish (v), disparage (v), minimize (v), pick at (v). (additional references)

Antonym: flatter (v). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Detraction	Verb: detract, derogate, decry, deprecate, depreciate, disparage; run down, cry down; backcap; belittle; sneer at; (contemn); criticize, pull to pieces, pick a hole in one's coat, asperse, cast aspersions, blow upon, bespatter, blacken, vilify, vilipend; avile; give a dog a bad name, brand, malign; muckrake; backbite, libel, lampoon, traduce, slander, defame, calumniate, bear false witness against; speak ill of behind one's back.
Underestimation	Make light of, make little of, make nothing of, make no account of; belittle; minimize, think nothing of; set no store by, set at naught; shake off as dewdrops from the lion's mane.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Belittle

English words defined with "belittle": denigrate, deprecate, depreciate, derogate, diminish ♦ minimize ♦ talk down, To make little of. (references)

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	But that would belittle the name of our moon, which is: The Moon. (Aqua Teen Hunger Force; writing credit: Matt Maiellaro; Dave Willis)
Clever	To belittle is to be little. (references; author: unknown)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Play	Caption
	Snicker; laughing; belittle; deride; jeer; mock; taunt; ridicule; mean; mocking.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	To make Wellington so great is to belittle England.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Belittle" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 74.58% of the time. "Belittle" is used about 59 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	74.58%	44	51,500
Lexical Verb (base form)	22.03%	13	97,576
Noun (proper)	1.69%	1	339,140
Noun (singular)	1.69%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	59	N/A

Expression using "belittle": belittle oneself. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language		Translations for "belittle"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		zvogëloj (abate, curtail, decrease, diminish, lessen, make smaller, minimize, mitigate, qualify, rebate, reduce, relax, relieve, scale down, slacken, take away, take in, take up, understate), ul vlerat (disparage), nënvleftësoj (disregard, underestimate, underrate, undervalue). (various references)

Arabic		‏قلل من شأنه, ‏صغر (dwarf, hoot, lessen, shrink, smallness), ‏إستخف (despise, disesteem, disparage, disregard, neglect, pass over, pooh pooh, slight, talk down, trifle with, underestimate, undervalue). (various references)

Bulgarian		смалявам (diminish, lessen, minify, shrink), омаловажавам (decry, denigrate, discount, disparage, enfeeble, extenuate, make little of, minify, minimize, palliate, play down, stultify, talk down, understate, whittle away), подценявам (cheapen, depreciate, derogate, lessen, misjudge, underprise, underrate, understate, undervalue). (various references)

Chinese		貶抑 (depreciate), 貶低 (depreciate, play down), 薄 (despise, frivolous, meagre, mean, peppermint, slight, small, thin, to approach, to go near, ungenerous, unkind), �"� (nothing). (various references)

Czech		bagatelizovat (disparage, downgrade, downplay, flout, play down), znevažovat (disparage), snižovat, podceòovat (depreciate, disparage, dispraise, minimize, misprise, misprize). (various references)

Farsi		کم ارزش کردن (Abase, Debunk), کسی راکوچک کردن , تحقیرنمودن (Abase). (various references)

Finnish		väheksyä (despise, disparage), halventaa (cheapen, disparage, reduce), alentaa arvoa (depreciate, devalue, disparage). (various references)

French		rabaisser, déprécier, dénigrer. (various references)

German		schmälern (detract from, lessen, reduce, subtract, to subtract), herabsetzen (abandon ship, cheapen, cry down, cut, debase, degrade, depreciate, diminish, disparage, lessen, lower, mark down, minimize, price down, reduce, slacken off, slash, to abandon ship, to degrade, to depreciate, to derate, to disparage, to remit). (various references)

Greek		υποτιμώ (debase, deflate, depreciate, depredate, derogate, devalue, disparage, minimize, misjudge, to underestimate, underestimate, underrate, understate, undervalue). (various references)

Hebrew		לזלזל בערכו (cheapen, disparage, hold cheap, slight someone, think nothing of, underestimate, underrate), ל�"קטין בערכו. (various references)

Hungarian		kicsinyel (set at, to pan, to reflect), ócsárol (carp, revile, to abuse, to carp, to crab, to cry down, to descry, to disparage, to knock, to revile). (various references)

Indonesian		menyepelekan (consider insignificant), memperkecil (scant). (various references)

Italian		sminuire (diminish, lessen), menomare (abate, cheapen, damage, decrease, diminish, disable, drop, dwindle, impair, maim, minimize, relax, slaken, understimate, weaken), deprezzare (debase, decry, depreciate, disparage, fall in value). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		見縊る (to belittle, to despise, to look down on, to underrate), 見くびる (to belittle, to despise, to look down on, to underrate). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		みくびる (to belittle, to despise, to look down on, to underrate). (various references)

Manx		jannoo beg jeh (condemn, debunk, depreciate, depreciation, discount, disparage, disparagement, flout). (various references)

Pig Latin		elittlebay

Portuguese		rebaixar (abase, banalize, bemean, bust, crab, debase, decry, degrade, demean, demote, denigrate, depreciate, diminish, disparagement, flank, humble, humiliated, lower, mark down, put down, skiver, undercut, vilipend, vulgarize), minimizar (minimize, play fair, understate), desmerecer (debunk), depreciar (debase, depreciate, derogate, deteriorate, detract, devaluate, diminish, lessen, misprise, misprize, undervalue), apequenar. (various references)

Romanian		micşora (abate, abridge, attenuate, Bate, contract, cut, deaden, decrease, detract, dilute, dock, drop, dwarf, ease, knock down, lessen, lighten, lower, mellow, mitigate, narrow, palliate, pare, pare down, put down, rebate, reduce, remit, restrain, retrench, shorten, stop, subdue, subjugate, weaken, whittle away), deprecia (debase, demonetize, depreciate, disvalue, undervalue). (various references)

Russian		умалять (derogate, derogate from, detract, disparage, pray), умалить (derogate), принижать (debase). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		omalovažiti (depreciate, derogate, disdain, underestimate). (various references)

Spanish		empequeñecer (dwarf). (various references)

Swedish		förringa (cry down, deprecate, depreciate, derogate from, detract, detract from, extenuate, lessen, make light of, minimize, slight). (various references)

Thai		�"ูถูก (lout). (various references)

Turkish		küçümsemek (contemn, defy, depreciate, despise, disdain, flout, look down on, make light of, minimize, pooh pooh, scorn, sneer, underestimate, underrate, undervalue), küçültmek (abase, decrease, derogate, diminish, dispraise, lessen, lower, make smaller, miniaturize, minify, minimize, reduce, shrink), küçük görmek (be disdainful of, disparage, look down, look down on, look down one's nose at, misprize, patronize, underestimate, underrate, upstage), alçaltmak (bastardize, bemean, debase, detract, downgrade, drag down, lift down, lower, reduce, set down, sink), aşağılamak (abase, give smb. the wall, humiliate, insult, pooh pooh, scorn, take down, talk down). (various references)

Ukranian		зменшувати (abate, allay, alleviate, ax, axe, cut back, decrease, detract, diminish, dwindle, extenuate, lessen, minify, palliate, relax, slacken, turn down, whittle away), принижувати (невимушенІсть [f], deject, demean, derogate, detract, humble, humiliate, lower, mortify, slur, snub, spite, vilify), применшувати (derogate, diminish, minify, minimize, play down, understate). (various references)

Welsh		bychanu (minimize), difenwi (abuse, blaspheme, revile). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "belittle": belittled, belittlement, belittlements, belittler, belittlers, belittles. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Belittle" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: bekittle, belitile, belitle, bellette, Bellettee, bellitle, Bellotte, betlittle, Blattel. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "belittle" (pronounced buli"tul)
5	-l i" t u l	little.
4	-i" t u l	acquittal, brittle, committal, Kittel, Kittle, noncommittal, skittle, spittle, tittle, transmittal, vittle, Whittle.
3	-t u l	accidental, anecdotal, artiodactyl, battle, beetle, betel, bicoastal, bottle, brattle, Bristol, brutal, butyl, Cantle, capital, Capitol, cattle, chattel, chortle, coastal, coincidental, compartmental, congenital, consonantal, continental, crustal, crystal, dental, detrimental, developmental, digital, disgruntle, dismantle, distal, ductile, elemental, embattle, entitle, environmental, experimental, extramarital, fatal, fertile, fetal, fractal, frontal, fundamental, futile, genital, gentle, glottal, governmental, horizontal, hospital, hostel, hostile, hurtle, immortal, immotile, incidental, incremental, infantile, infertile, instrumental, intercontinental, intergovernmental, judgmental, kettle, lentil, lintel, mantel, mantle, marital, mental, metal, mettle, monumental, mortal, motile, Myrtle, Natal, neonatal, nettle, nonfatal, nongovernmental, nonvolatile, occidental, occipital, orbital, oriental, ornamental, parental, parietal, pedestal, periodontal, petal, Pistil, pistol, pivotal, portal, postal, postnatal, Pottle, prattle, prefrontal, premarital, prenatal, projectile, quintal, rattle, rebuttal, recital, rectal, regimental, rental, resettle, scuttle, sentimental, settle, shuttle, skeletal, societal, startle, subtitle, subtle, supplemental, tactile, tattle, temperamental, throttle, title, tootle, total, transcendental, transcontinental, turtle, unsentimental, unsettle, unsubtle, varietal, vegetal, versatile, vestal, vital, volatile, Wintle.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "b-e-e-i-l-l-t-t"
	-2 letters: billet, little.
	-3 letters: belie, belle, betel, blite, elite, libel, title.
	-4 letters: beet, bell, belt, bile, bill, bite, bitt, blet, leet, lilt, lite, teel, tele, tell, tile, till, tilt.
	-5 letters: bee, bel, bet, bit, eel, ell, ill, lee, lei, let, lib, lie, lit, tee, tel, tet, tie, til, tit.
	Words containing the letters "b-e-e-i-l-l-t-t"
	+1 letter: belittled, belittler, belittles.
	+2 letters: belittlers, belletrist.
	+3 letters: battlefield, belletrists.
	+4 letters: battlefields, belittlement, belletristic, electability, subsatellite.
	+5 letters: belittlements, delectability, meltabilities, subsatellites.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.