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Insult vs Derogatory - What's the difference?

insult | derogatory |

As nouns the difference between insult and derogatory

is that insult is an action or form of speech deliberately intended to be rude while derogatory is a trade-line on a credit report that includes negative credit history.

As a verb insult

is to behave in an obnoxious and superior manner (over, against).

As an adjective derogatory is

tending to derogate, or lessen in value of someone; expressing derogation; detracting; injurious.

insult

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (obsolete) To behave in an obnoxious and superior manner (over, against).
  • *, II.3.3:
    • thou hast lost all, poor thou art, dejected, in pain of body, grief of mind, thine enemies insult over thee, thou art as bad as Job […].
  • To offend (someone) by being rude, insensitive or insolent; to demean or affront (someone).
  • (obsolete) To leap or trample upon; to make a sudden onset upon.
    • (Shakespeare)

    Synonyms

    * (to offend) abuse, affront, offend, slight * See also

    Antonyms

    *compliment

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An action or form of speech deliberately intended to be rude.
  • * Savage
    • the ruthless sneer that insult adds to grief
  • * 1987 , Jamie Lee Curtis, A Fish Called Wanda :
    • To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people!
  • Anything that causes offence/offense, e.g. by being of an unacceptable quality.
    • The way the orchestra performed tonight was an insult to my ears.
  • (medicine) Something causing disease or injury to the body or bodily processes.
  • * 2006 , Stephen G. Lomber, Jos J. Eggermont, Reprogramming the Cerebral Cortex (page 415)
  • * 2011 , Terence Allen and Graham Cowling, The Cell: A Very Short Introduction , Oxford 2011, p. 96:
    • Within the complex genome of most organisms there are alternative multiple pathways of proteins which can help the individual cell survive a variety of insults , for example radiation, toxic chemicals, heat, excessive or reduced oxygen.
  • (obsolete) The act of leaping on; onset; attack.
    • (Dryden)

    Synonyms

    * (deliberatedly intended to be rude) abuse (uncountable), affront, offence (UK)/offense (US), pejorative, slam, slight, slur * (thing causing offence by being of unacceptable quality) disgrace, outrage * See also

    Antonyms

    *compliment

    Related terms

    * insolence * insultation

    Anagrams

    * * English heteronyms

    derogatory

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Tending to derogate, or lessen in value of someone; expressing derogation; detracting; injurious.
  • * (rfdate) (Blackstone).
    • Acts of Parliament derogatory from the power of subsequent Parliaments bind not.
  • * (rfdate) (Macaulay).
    • His language was severely censured by some of his brother peers as derogatory to their other.
  • (legal) When referring to a clause in a testament: a sentence of secret character inserted by the testator alone, of which he reserves the knowledge to himself, with a condition that no will he may make thereafter shall be valid, unless this clause is inserted word for word; – a precaution to guard against later wills extorted by violence, or obtained by suggestion. (rfd-sense)

    • Usage notes

    In common language, particularly used in the phrase “derogatory term”, equivalent to less common pejorative, and in “derogatory statements”, equivalent to more casual offensive.

    Derived terms

    * derogatory clause/clause derogatory

    Noun

    (derogatories)
  • A trade-line on a credit report that includes negative credit history.

    • Synonyms

    * pejorative

    Related terms

    * derogate * derogation

    External links

    * *