Belittle
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /bɨˈlɪt.əl/Rhymes: -ɪtəl
Origin
From - + little. Coined by Thomas Jefferson in in "Notes on the State of Virginia": "So far the Count de Buffon has carried this new theory of the tendency of nature to belittle her productions on this side the Atlantic."
Full definition of belittle
Verb
- To knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is.
- 2006, Mark Steyn, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It Chapter 9, Under the rules as understood by the New York Times, the West is free to mock and belittle its Judeo-Christian inheritance, and, likewise, the Muslim world is free to mock and belittle the West's Judeo-Christian inheritance.