Vilipend

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈvɪlɪpɛnd/

Definitions

1. To treat someone or something with disdain or to view as unimportant or worthless
2. To look down on or behave disrespectfully toward a person or thing, showing little value or regard
3. To consider something or someone as of little worth and to express scorn or contempt for them

Etymology: Latin "vilipendere" was built from two ordinary words that pulled in opposite directions. "Vilis" meant cheap or worthless, and "pendere" meant to weigh out, as a merchant weighs goods on a scale, and figuratively to consider or ponder. Put together, the literal sense was roughly "to weigh something as cheap," and the metaphor of judging value on a balance carried over into the sense of rating something as worthless. The word reached English through Old French "vilipender," which kept the same meaning of despising or condemning. Middle English speakers adopted it as "vilipenden," used to mean treating something as contemptible. The English verb has stayed a fairly formal, literary word, and its close relatives in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese show the same Latin inheritance in modern dress.

Synonyms: belittle, disparage, deprecate, diminish, slander

Antonyms: praise, commend, exalt