Other forms: discredited, discrediting, discredits
To discredit is to damage belief in somebody or something. Discredit the witness, a discredited theory, seek to discredit him.
The participle does most of the work: a discredited theory is one nobody serious holds any more. Discrediting the person rather than the argument is the oldest move in any dispute.
1verbdiscreditTo damage belief in somebody or something.
“The lawyer tried to discredit the witness by showing she had lied before.”
discredit is a damaging.
Proto-Indo-European
*ḱerd-
Latin
crēditum — a loan, credit
Middle French
crédit — belief, trust
English
credit
English, today
discredit
Built from
From dis- + credit. credit Borrowed from Middle French crédit (“belief, trust”), from Latin crēditum (“a loan, credit”), neuter of crēditus, past participle of crēdere (“to believe”). The verb is from the noun. a doublet of shraddha, creed.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA