Belittler

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who makes others feel less important or valuable in their presence
2. A person who habitually speaks or acts in a way that diminishes someone else's worth or achievements
3. An individual who tends to criticize or undervalue others to undermine their confidence

Etymology: "Belittler" is a plain formation: the verb "belittle" with the agent suffix "-er" added to name the person who performs the action. Its meaning follows directly from that of the verb, a person who makes someone or something seem small, unimportant, or less worthy of respect. The verb itself is built from "be-", a prefix that can make a verb mean "to treat (someone) as" or "to make (something) into", and "little". Put together, "belittle" means roughly "to make little of" someone, and "belittler" simply names whoever does it. Because the suffix is so productive in English, the noun needs no special history of its own: it is the same ending that gives us "writer" from "write" or "reader" from "read".

Synonyms: diminisher, denigrator, critic