Defame vs Belittle - What's the difference?
defame | belittle |
To harm or diminish the reputation of.
To render infamous; to bring into disrepute.
* Dryden
To publish a libel about.
(archaic) To charge; to accuse.
* Rebecca is defamed of sorcery practised on the person of a noble knight.
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.}}
As verbs the difference between defame and belittle
is that defame is to harm or diminish the reputation of while belittle is to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is.defame
English
Verb
(defam)- to defame somebody
- My guilt thy growing virtues did defame ; / My blackness blotted thy unblemish'd name.