Verb
depreciate (third-person singular simple present depreciates, present participle depreciating, simple past and past participle depreciated)
- (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.
- (intransitive) To decline in value over time.
- (transitive) To belittle or disparage.
Usage notes
- Do not confuse with deprecate (“to disapprove of”). The meaning of deprecate has lately been encroaching on depreciate in the sense 'to belittle'.
Synonyms
- (reduce in value over time):
- (belittle): do down; run down
Translations
(tr.) to lessen in price or value
(intr.) to decline in value over time
Translations to be checked