To vilipend means to regard or treat as of little value or account; to vilify; or to deprecate, to belittle.
I saw one website which suggested it meant to depreciate rather than to deprecate. Oops, I thought. Until I looked up depreciate in the dictionary and found it not only meant to diminish in value over a period of time but it also meant to belittle. I had never previously realised that to depreciate could mean to disparage.
And oops, I'm thinking, because depreciate is the only of these words (except belittle) I feel familiar with, even in the sense that surprised you. (On the other hand - I might just have been assuming.)
ReplyDeleteVilipend.... it sounds like a lawsuit against a many-legged insect!
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