Other forms: belittled, belittling, belittles
To belittle is to make somebody or their work seem small. Belittle her efforts, do not belittle it, belittled in public.
It is about the speaker's intention rather than the truth: to belittle an achievement is to talk it down whether or not it was small. The word was coined by Thomas Jefferson in 1782, and British critics complained about it for a century as an Americanism.
1verbbelittleTo make somebody or their work seem small.
“He always belittles his sister's achievements, even when she wins prizes.”
belittle is a disparaging.
Be- plus little, coined by Thomas Jefferson in 1782 and long objected to as an Americanism.
From be + little. coined by Thomas Jefferson in 1782.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA