What's the difference between belittle and diminish?

Belittle


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To make little or less in a moral sense; to speak of in a depreciatory or contemptuous way.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Harping on endlessly about a woman’s hair, legs and handbag instead of her ideas and achievements can be horribly belittling, a way of refusing to take her seriously as a professional.
  • (2) This is a dangerous moment for politics in Britain: it is not the moment to ignore or belittle the angry cry from voters telling us they are deeply sick of politics as usual.
  • (3) The more they feel insulted and belittled, the stronger their support for Corbyn.
  • (4) Comment is perfectly legitimate, but the sneering, supercilious, specious and dismissive contributions masquerading as ‘commentary’ belittle the claims of a ‘quality’ paper.” Before attempting to assess the validity of the reader’s analysis – broadly shared by some other readers – I think his email reflects one or two other interesting aspects of the demographics of the Guardian’s readership and the left.
  • (5) It happens within a society where we repeatedly hear victims dismissed, belittled and disbelieved at best, or, at worst,blamed for their own assaults.
  • (6) Perhaps Gove should attend some history lessons taught by the professionals he so belittles so that he can learn how to read and cite sources properly.
  • (7) That is not to belittle HIV – it is a life-changing condition, and some of the treatments have their side-effects – but, as HIV expert Prof Jonathan Weber put it to me, the treatment regimens developed in the mid-1990s are “so successful it’s like a miracle”.
  • (8) They had a candidate with pro-Putin, pro-Russian views who belittled Nato, who was willing to potentially remove sanctions on Russia and by contrast they had in Secretary Clinton a candidate very tough on Russia.
  • (9) Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said: "I regret the Australian PM statement belittling the phone-tapping in Indonesia without feeling guilty.
  • (10) The eccentric, gonzo-ish path that Vice has chosen to pursue instead has itself come in for sharp criticism from detractors among those he belittles as football-chasers.
  • (11) Modotti, Ollin and, to a lesser degree, Novo (who was ultimately a man and therefore less irritating to those in power), were cast aside and belittled by those who had it in their power to do so.
  • (12) He reacted angrily to a question about his father’s comments to the Guardian, claiming words were put in his mouth and accusing the media of trying to belittle the closure.
  • (13) The last Labour government sometimes appeared to belittle the concerns of those who were fearful of the pace of change, or longed for stability or order."
  • (14) It is acceptable to criticise and belittle Islam because it is a religion, not an ethnic grouping – and therefore fair game.
  • (15) "People belittled me, implying that it was my fault and that I shouldn't be an independent woman," she added.
  • (16) In 2010 Lula came under fire after belittling the plight of political prisoners on hunger strike in Cuba. "
  • (17) What strikes me, as it must have done him, is the way in which the intention behind the article – to belittle the food bank initiative – was turned on its head by the social media backlash.
  • (18) With no intention of belittling the importance of chronic ischemic heart disease (CIHD) in modern cardiology, the article focuses the attention on primary alcoholic heart disease--alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACMP)--which arouses a far from causal interest due to the prevalence of alcoholism.
  • (19) In treating Plath as simply an object of sympathy, I suspect I have belittled her.
  • (20) Demirtas has been the target of fierce campaign attacks by Erdogan, who belittled him a “pretty boy” who is merely a front for the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Diminish


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To make smaller in any manner; to reduce in bulk or amount; to lessen; -- opposed to augment or increase.
  • (v. t.) To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken.
  • (v. t.) To make smaller by a half step; to make (an interval) less than minor; as, a diminished seventh.
  • (v. t.) To take away; to subtract.
  • (v. i.) To become or appear less or smaller; to lessen; as, the apparent size of an object diminishes as we recede from it.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Diminished CMD was most common with AR (7 of 12) but was also seen with acute tubular necrosis (2 of 6) and cyclosporin toxicity (2 of 3).
  • (2) If women psychiatrists are to fill some of the positions in Departments of Psychiatry, which will fall vacant over the next decade, much more attention must be paid to eliminating or diminishing the multiple obstacles for women who chose a career in academic psychiatry.
  • (3) The results indicated that the role of contact inhibition phenomena in arresting cellular proliferation was diminished in perfusion system environments.
  • (4) In vitro studies in cardiac Purkinje fibers suggested that reversal of amitriptyline-induced cardiac membrane effects by sodium bicarbonate may be attributed not only to alkalinization but also to increased in extracellular sodium concentration, diminishing the local anesthetic action of amitriptyline and resulting in less sodium channel block.
  • (5) Virus replication in nasal turbinates was not diminished while infection in the lung was suppressed sufficiently for the infected mice to survive the infection.
  • (6) The last stems from trends such as declining birth rate, an increasingly mobile society, diminished importance of the nuclear family, and the diminishing attractiveness of professions involved with providing maintenance care.
  • (7) In contrast, insertion of a pre-S(1) sequence between HBcAg residues 75 and 83 abrogated recognition of HBcAg by 5 of 6 anti-HBc monoclonal antibodies and diminished recognition by human polyclonal anti-HBc.
  • (8) In addition, the activity of the large cells diminished with time after primary immunization, but that of the small cells remained stable.
  • (9) The antibody reacted with adult as well as with cord red cells, and its reactivity was strongly diminished by treatment of the cells with neuraminidase and to a lesser degree by treatment with protease.
  • (10) The concomitant reduction in aortic pressure and increase in heart rate following total occlusion of the portal vein were most pronounced during the first weeks after stenosis, and were probably due to diminished venous return to the heart.
  • (11) Conversely, the latter diminished basal plasma glucose levels.
  • (12) Subsequently, the inflammatory reaction diminishes, as can be seen on smears from tympanic effusions.
  • (13) Both Apo AI (48%) and Apo AII (5.5%) were greatly diminished and Apo E was present in remarkably high amounts (39%) with two additional isoforms (Apo E'1 and Apo E'2).
  • (14) (3) The diminished autophosphorylation rate was due to a decreased responsiveness of the kinase activity to the action of insulin.
  • (15) The isoenzyme mobility diminished in both tumour chromatin extracts, and the slow migrating gamma isoenzyme exhibited sensitivity to L-cysteine inhibition.
  • (16) Segmental function was diminished an average of 67.8% in "noses" and 46.6% in "bridges".
  • (17) Flexion of the knee beyond 40 degrees progressively diminished viability of the edges of the wound, particularly the lateral edge.
  • (18) EEG waves were similar during Aw and Qw but they diminished in amplitude and frequency when passing from these states to Qs, and both parameters increased during As.
  • (19) After 3-5 days of side-arm traction, swelling had usually diminished sufficiently to allow the elbow to be safely hyperflexed to stabilize the fracture after elective closed reduction.
  • (20) In the patients with aplastic anaemia the iron flux was diminished, but never eliminated, demonstrating that the exchangeable compartment was not solely erythroblastic, but included non-erythroid transferrin receptors.