(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).
Little
Definition:
(a.) Small in size or extent; not big; diminutive; -- opposed to big or large; as, a little body; a little animal; a little piece of ground; a little hill; a little distance; a little child.
(a.) Short in duration; brief; as, a little sleep.
(a.) Small in quantity or amount; not much; as, a little food; a little air or water.
(a.) Small in dignity, power, or importance; not great; insignificant; contemptible.
(a.) Small in force or efficiency; not strong; weak; slight; inconsiderable; as, little attention or exertion;little effort; little care or diligence.
(a.) Small in extent of views or sympathies; narrow; shallow; contracted; mean; illiberal; ungenerous.
(n.) That which is little; a small quantity, amount, space, or the like.
(n.) A small degree or scale; miniature.
(adv.) In a small quantity or degree; not much; slightly; somewhat; -- often with a preceding it.
Example Sentences:
(1) Prior to oral feeding, little or no ELA was detected in stools and endotoxinemia was ascertained in only six of 45 infants (13%).
(2) 8.43am BST A little more from that Field interview on Today.
(3) The omission of Crossrail 2 from the Conservative manifesto , in which other infrastructure projects were listed, was the clearest sign yet that there is little appetite in a Theresa May government for another London-based scheme.
(4) Not only do they give employers no reason to turn them into proper jobs, but mini-jobs offer workers little incentive to work more because then they would have to pay tax.
(5) Some commentators have described his ship, now facing more delays after a decade in development, as little more than a Heath Robinson machine.
(6) Marked enhancement of IFN-gamma production by T cells was seen in the presence of as little as 0.3% thymic DC.
(7) The origin of the aorta and pulmonary artery from the right ventricle is a complicated and little studied congenital cardiac malformation.
(8) Today’s figures tell us little about the timing of the first increase in interest rates, which will depend on bigger picture news on domestic growth, pay trends and perceived downside risks in the global economy,” he said.
(9) It is a place that occupies two thirds of our planet but very little is known of vast swaths of it.
(10) The authors conclude that H. pylori alone causes little or no effect on an intact gastric mucosa in the rat, that either intact organisms or bacteria-free filtrates cause similar prolongation and delayed healing of pre-existing ulcers with active chronic inflammation, and that the presence of predisposing factors leading to disruption of gastric mucosal integrity may be required for the H. pylori enhancement of inflammation and tissue damage in the stomach.
(11) Furthermore, little DNA relatedness was found between the type strain and a strain of C. natalensis.
(12) Displacement of a colinear line over the same range without an offset evoked little, if any, response.
(13) Little is so far known of the origin of this syndrome.
(14) Known as the Little House in the Garden, this temporary structure lasted over 50 years.
(15) Little difference exists between the proportion of programs that offer training in first-trimester techniques and the proportion that train in second-trimester techniques.
(16) A study of the time-course of the response during aortic stenosis of 30 min duration showed early release of renin from the innervated kidney at a time (5 min) when little release occurred from the denervated one.
(17) She loved us and we loved her.” “We would have loved to have had a little grandchild from her,” she says sadly.
(18) Likewise, they had little or no effects on the fluorescence anisotropy of TMA-DPH, which is also thought to be located in the interfacial region of the lipid bilayer, either when the probe was located in the outer layer of the plasma membrane or when the probe was located in the inner membrane compartment.
(19) Stimulation with these electrodes were effective for inducing voiding with little residual volume after the recovery of bladder reflexes, 3 weeks after experimental spinal cord injury in the dog.
(20) Technical manipulations to improve resolution were time consuming and added little to the accuracy of the test.