deprecate

verb

1)

the school deprecates this behavior

Syn:

deplore, abhor, disapprove of, frown on, take a dim view of, take exception to, detest, despise; criticize, censure

Ant:

praise, overrate

2)

he deprecates the value of television

See depreciate 3)

••

deprecate, depreciate

The first of these has increasingly encroached on the figurative senses of the second, while the second has retreated into financial contexts. Deprecate means "disapprove earnestly" — e.g.: " ‘Well,’ he admitted, deprecatingly, ‘one can't suppress one's natural instincts altogether; even if one's reason and self-interest are all the other way.’ " (Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night; 1936)

Depreciate, transitively, means "belittle, disparage"; and intransitively, "fall in value" (used in reference to assets or investments).

The familiar phrase self-deprecating is, literally speaking, a virtual impossibility, except perhaps for those suffering from extreme neuroses. Thus self-depreciating, with depreciate in its transitive sense, has historically been viewed as the correct phrase — e.g.: "Sadly, Grizzard did not have the self-depreciating humor of a Jeff Foxworthy, the self-proclaimed redneck comedian." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch; July 25, 1996.)

Unfortunately, though, the form self-deprecating — despite its mistaken origins — is now 50 times as common in print as self-depreciating. Speakers of American English routinely use self-deprecating. However grudgingly, we must accord to it the status of standard English — e.g.: "He's smart, articulate, funny, alternately self-deprecating and proud of his success." (Los Angeles Times; Sept. 1, 1996.) — BG