derogatory

Meanings

1. Showing disrespect or a low opinion of someone or something.
2. Meant to make someone or something seem less important or less worthy.

Example sentences

• "He made a derogatory comment about her accent."

  Level B1, Meaning 1

• "The magazine apologized for its derogatory language."

  Level B2, Meaning 1

• "Using derogatory names is not allowed in our club."

  Level B1, Meaning 2

• "She found the joke derogatory and said so."

  Level B2, Meaning 1

Synonyms and antonyms

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• pejorative : Pejorative describes a word with a negative tone, such as a slur. Derogatory is used for whole remarks too.
• disrespectful : Disrespectful is the everyday word. Derogatory is more formal and usually means the remark runs the person down.

Word family and forms

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "derogatory".

• derogatory remark
• derogatory term
• derogatory comment
• derogatory language
• a derogatory label
• find it derogatory

Origin

Derogatory comes from Late Latin derogatorius, which meant belonging to a repeal, a word built on the Latin verb derogare, to take away from. English had it by about 1500. The idea of taking something away still shows when a remark takes away from someone's good name.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Dictionary.com.

How to remember it

Derogatory sounds a little like degrade. A derogatory remark tries to degrade someone.

Test yourself

Learn next at B1

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