(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).
Flout
Definition:
(v. t.) To mock or insult; to treat with contempt.
(v. i.) To practice mocking; to behave with contempt; to sneer; to fleer; -- often with at.
(n.) A mock; an insult.
Example Sentences:
(1) With just less than 1% of the world’s population homeless and seeking a better, safer life, a global crisis is under way, exacerbated by a lack of political cooperation – and several states, including the United Kingdom, are flouting international agreements designed to deal with the crisis.
(2) She and her two fellow PCCs for the region have been campaigning for local courts to take a stronger line on cases that are prosecuted, and have called for action against one judge they accuse of flouting sentencing guidelines, but she says it is impossible to know if sentences are in line with those for other offences of violence because cases are not logged separately.
(3) Eviction orders issued by a local authority generally involve individuals who are several thousands of pounds in arrears, or people who have consistently flouted reasonable repayment orders or avoided communication with the council.
(4) Our diplomatic relations suffered a severe setback when our Embassy compounds in Tehran were overrun in 2011 and the Vienna Convention flouted, and when the Iranian Majles voted to downgrade relations with the UK.
(5) The chief executive of a corporation that has flouted environmental laws might say something like: “You activists just don’t get it.
(6) We want to know how long they have done this for, what they’ve done with our private data, how much they have made from this, and why they keep flouting privacy laws?
(7) Yet anger is building among transparency campaigners, some of whom are expected to soon launch a legal challenge with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), arguing that some of the biggest names in American politics have been actively flouting the rules.
(8) • This article was amended on 29 January 2015 to correct a misuse of flaunt for flout in the sub-heading.
(9) He said Australia had a free trade agreement with China, and if China intended to flout the agreement in retaliation, it should say so.
(10) "The prosecution of journalists for reporting information that does not coincide with the government of Egypt's narrative flouts the most basic standards of media freedom and represents a blow to democratic progress in Egypt ."
(11) "Ian Kerr colluded with construction firms for many years flouting the Data Protection Act and ignoring thousands of people's privacy rights," he said.
(12) The charity is also calling for sanctions against Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Thailand, which it says have flouted the law for years.
(13) No doubt it's a serious matter that some abortion clinics are said to be flouting the law and getting consent forms pre-signed by doctors.
(14) It says Trump flouted anti-nepotism law by appointing his daughter and her husband to White House jobs .
(15) Those openly called on to flout international law in the interests of a higher good do not then suddenly submit that goal to domestic law once they've gone through customs.
(16) Alan Andrews, ClientEarth lawyer, said: "The supreme court recognised that this case has broader implications for EU environmental law: the government can't flout environmental law with impunity.
(17) Because if Keogh’s right, if this “challenges the ethical framework”, if we’re acting in spite of conscience and not because of it, then almost every junior doctor in the land is flouting the rules set out by the GMC, and performing deficiently.
(18) Three ex-bosses flouted the rules when the now-defunct institution lent hundreds of millions of euros to 16 people in the summer of 2008 at a time when its share price had collapsed, the Irish state's prosecutor said.
(19) Let us make it clear that Labour will never make the same mistake again, will never flout the United Nations and international law.” This effectively rules out Labour under Corbyn from supporting David Cameron’s government in a proposed House of Commons vote to expand to Syria the current UK air strikes in Iraq against Islamic State.
(20) In May, the prime minister was more exercised by the flouting of privacy injunctions on Twitter, saying that the law should be reviewed to "catch up with how people consume media today" because it was unfair that newspapers were unable to identify philandering celebrities such as Ryan Giggs, who had taken out an injunction, when their identity was freely circulating on Twitter .