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Berate vs Denigrate - What's the difference?

berate | denigrate |

In transitive terms the difference between berate and denigrate

is that berate is to chide or scold vehemently while denigrate is to treat as worthless; belittle, degrade or disparage.

berate

English

Verb

(berat)
  • To chide or scold vehemently.
  • * 1896 , , Seats Of The Mighty , ch. 13:
  • Gabord, still muttering, turned to us again, and began to berate the soldiers for their laziness.
  • * 1914 , , The Gods of Mars , ch. 21:
  • A thousand times I berated myself for being drawn into such a trap as I might have known these pits easily could be.
  • * 1917 , , Jerry of the Islands , ch. 14:
  • Lenerengo, as usual, forgot everything else in the fiercer pleasure of berating her spouse.
  • * 2008 , Alex Perry, " The Man Who Would Be (Congo's) King," Time , 27 Nov.:
  • During the rally, he berates the crowd for their cowardice.
  • * 2011 , Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/15210221.stm]
  • France were supposedly a team in pieces, beaten by Tonga just a week ago and with coach Marc Lievremont publicly berating his players, but so clear-cut was their victory that much of the atmosphere had been sucked from the contest long before the end.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Anagrams

    * ----

    denigrate

    English

    Verb

    (denigrat)
  • To criticise so as to besmirch; traduce, disparage or defame.
  • To treat as worthless; belittle, degrade or disparage.
  • (rare) To blacken.
  • Derived terms

    * denigration * denigratory