Wiktionary

depreciate

English

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin depretiare, depretiatus, from de- + pretium (“price”). More at appreciate and appretio.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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depreciate (third-person singular simple present depreciates, present participle depreciating, simple past and past participle depreciated)

  1. (transitive) To lessen in price or estimated value; to lower the worth of.
    • 1678, Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe:
      […] which […] some over-severe philosophers may look upon fastidiously, or undervalue and depreciate.
    • 1 December, 1783, Edmund Burke, speech on Fox's East India Bill:
      To prove that the Americans ought not to be free, we are obliged to depreciate the value of freedom itself.
  2. (intransitive) To decline in value over time.
  3. (transitive) To belittle or disparage.

Usage notes

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  • Do not confuse with deprecate (“to disapprove of”). The meaning of deprecate has lately been encroaching on depreciate in the sense 'to belittle'.

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Translations

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to belittle — see belittle
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Anagrams

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Spanish

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Verb

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depreciate

  1. second-person singular voseo imperative of depreciar combined with te
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