denigrate

• POS: Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: den=i=grate

OXFORD DICTIONARY

denigrate, v.tr. defame or disparage the reputation of (a person); blacken.

Derivative

denigration n. denigrator n. denigratory adj.

Etymology

L denigrare (as DE-, nigrare f. niger black)

THESAURUS

denigrate

asperse, bedarken, besmirch, bespatter, black, blacken, blackwash, blot, blotch, call names, calumniate, charcoal, cork, darken, defame, defile, deprecate, depreciate, despise, dinge, discommend, disdain, disparage, dispraise, disvalue, ebonize, engage in personalities, heap dirt upon, hold in contempt, ink, libel, melanize, muckrake, murk, nigrify, oversmoke, put down, revile, ridicule, scandalize, shade, shadow, slander, smear, smirch, smoke, smudge, smut, smutch, soil, soot, stigmatize, sully, tarnish, tear down, throw mud at, traduce, vilify

ROGET THESAURUS

denigrate

Blackness

VB be black, render black, blacken, infuscate, denigrate, blot, blotch, smutch, smirch, darken, black, sable, swarthy, somber, dark, inky, ebony, ebon, atramentous, jetty, coal-black, jet-black, fuliginous, pitchy, sooty, swart, dusky, dingy, murky, Ethiopic, low-toned, low in tone, of the deepest dye, black as jet, black as my hat, black as a shoe, black as a tinker's pot, black as November, black as thunder, black as midnight, nocturnal, nigrescent, gray, obscure.