Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To express disapproval of; censure.
  • noun Disapproval; censure.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Disparaging speech or opinion; animadversion; censure; reproach.
  • noun Synonyms Disparagement, opprobrium.
  • To speak disparagingly of; mention with disapprobation, or some degree of censure.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To withdraw praise from; to notice with disapprobation or some degree of censure; to disparage; to blame.
  • noun The act of dispraising; detraction; blame censure; reproach; disparagement.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To notice with disapprobation or some degree of censure; to disparage, to criticize.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the act of speaking contemptuously of

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English dispreisen, from Old French despreiser, variant of desprisier, from Late Latin dēpretiāre; see depreciate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French despreisier.

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Examples

Comments

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  • “People are never so ready to believe you as when you say things in dispraise of yourself; and you are never so much annoyed as when they take you at your word.” --Somerset Maugham (Notebooks)

    August 27, 2011