adj.
- Tending to make or become worse.
- Disparaging; belittling.
A disparaging or belittling word or expression.
pejoratively pe·jor'a·tive·ly adv.
pejorative
Dictionary:
pe·jor·a·tive (pĭ-jôr'ə-tĭv, -jŏr'-, pĕj'ə-rā'tĭv, pē'jə-) 
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adj.
A disparaging or belittling word or expression.
pejoratively pe·jor'a·tive·ly adv.
| Thesaurus: pejorative |
adjective
- Tending or intending to belittle: deprecative, deprecatory, depreciative, depreciatory, derogative, derogatory, detractive, disparaging, low, slighting, uncomplimentary. See praise/blame.
| Antonyms: pejorative |
adj
Definition: negative, belittling
Antonyms: complimentary, positive, praising
| Obscure Words: pejorate |
[fr. L. pejorare to become worse, make worse] to make worse: depreciate
| Word Tutor: pejorative |
IN BRIEF: Tending to demean or belittle. Also: A belittling or disparaging word or expression.
Because, for example, the phrase "mass culture" is commonly perceived as carrying pejorative connotations, many of those who really enjoy it and write positively about it prefer to use the term "popular culture."
— Michael Kammen
| Wikipedia: Pejorative |
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Look up pejorative, derisive, derogatory, or dyslogistic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
Pejoratives are words or grammatical forms which denote a negative effect; that is, they express the contempt or distaste of the speaker. Sometimes a term may begin as a pejorative word and eventually be adopted in a non-pejorative sense. In historical linguistics, this phenomenon is known as melioration, or amelioration, or semantic change (e.g. "punk"). Within some social groups a particular term is still regarded as being a pejorative, whereas the term isn't deemed as such within another social group elsewhere (e.g. "gay"). An example of this is the term "Mormon", which was first used in the 1830s as a pejorative to describe those who followed Joseph Smith and believed in the divine origin of the Book of Mormon. The term was soon adopted by Mormons themselves, however, and has lost its generally pejorative status. In other cases, some social groups have attempted to "reclaim" formerly offensive words applied against them, known as reclaimed words. Ethnic slurs are one kind of category of pejorative.
See also
- Laudative, or positive affect
References
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| Misspellings: pejorative |
Common misspelling(s) of pejorative
- perjorative
| Translations: Pejorative |
Dansk (Danish)
adj. - pejorativ (ord med nedsættende betydning)
n. - pejorativ
Nederlands (Dutch)
kleinerend, beledigend, een kleinerend/ beledigend woord
Français (French)
adj. - péjoratif
n. - mot péjoratif
Deutsch (German)
adj. - abwertend
n. - Pejorativum
Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - μειωτικός, υποτιμητικός, περιφρονητικός
n. - μειωτικός όρος
Italiano (Italian)
peggiorativo
Português (Portuguese)
adj. - pejorativo
n. - termo pejorativo (m)
Русский (Russian)
уничижительный, пренебрежительный
Español (Spanish)
adj. - peyorativo, despectivo
n. - desprecio
Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - nedsättande, pejorativ
n. - nedsättande ord
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
轻蔑的, 贬抑的, 轻蔑语
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 輕蔑的, 貶抑的
n. - 輕蔑語
한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 개악하는, 비난의 뜻을 더하는
n. - 경멸어, 경멸 접미사
日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 悪化させるような, 軽蔑的な
n. - 悪化語
العربيه (Arabic)
(صفه) تحقيري (الاسم) كلمه تحقيريه, إزدرائي, منقص من القدر
עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - מזלזל, בעל נימת גנאי, מידרדר, משתנה לרעה
n. - מילה מפחיתת-ערך
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Antonyms. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd. Read more |
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| Word Tutor. Copyright © 2004-present by eSpindle Learning, a 501(c) nonprofit organization. All rights reserved. eSpindle provides personalized spelling and vocabulary tutoring online; free trial. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Pejorative". Read more |
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