tr.v., -cried, -cry·ing, -cries.
- To condemn openly.
- To depreciate (currency, for example) by official proclamation or by rumor.
[French décrier, from Old French descrier : des-, de- + crier, to cry; see cry.]
decrier de·cri'er n.SYNONYMS decry, disparage, depreciate, derogate, belittle, minimize, downgrade. These verbs mean to think, write, or speak of as being of little value or importance. Decry implies open denunciation or condemnation: A staunch materialist, he decries economy. Disparage often implies the communication of a low opinion by indirection: Many critics disparage psychoanalysis as being a pseudoscience. To depreciate is to assign a lower than customary value to someone or something: Some musicologists depreciate Liszt's compositions. Derogate implies a detraction that impairs: People often derogate what they don't understand. Belittle and minimize mean to make less important, but minimize strongly implies the minimum level: He belittled the child's attempts to draw. She tried to minimize my accomplishment. To downgrade is to minimize in importance or estimation: Her rival downgraded the painting, calling it decorative but superficial.
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