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Contemn vs Belittle - What's the difference?

contemn | belittle |

As verbs the difference between contemn and belittle

is that contemn is to disdain; to value at little or nothing; to treat or regard with contempt while belittle is to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is.

contemn

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (archaic) To disdain; to value at little or nothing; to treat or regard with contempt.
  • *

    • Synonyms

    * despise, scorn * See also

    Related terms

    * contemner * contempt * contemptibility * contemptible * contemptibly * contemptuous

    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