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Belittle vs Minimize - What's the difference?

belittle | minimize |

As verbs the difference between belittle and minimize

is that belittle is to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is while minimize is to make (something) as small or as insignificant as possible.

belittle

English

Verb

(belittl)
  • To knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2006
    • , author=Mark Steyn , title=America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It , chapter=9 , isbn=0895260786 , page=201 , passage=Under the rules as understood by the New York Times'', the West is free to mock and belittle''' its Judeo-Christian inheritance, and, likewise, the Muslim world is free to mock and ' belittle the West's Judeo-Christian inheritance.}}

    Related terms

    * belittlement

    See also

    * disparage * denigrate * vilipend

    minimize

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (non-Oxford British spelling)

    Verb

    (minimiz)
  • To make (something) as small or as insignificant as possible.
  • (computing, transitive, graphical user interface) To remove (a window) from the main display area, collapsing it to an icon or caption.
    • I didn't close anything, but I minimized all the windows so I could see the desktop.