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Jeer vs Belittle - What's the difference?

jeer | belittle |

As verbs the difference between jeer and belittle

is that jeer is to utter sarcastic or mocking comments; to speak with mockery or derision; to use taunting language while belittle is to knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is.

As a noun jeer

is a railing remark or reflection; a scoff; a taunt; a biting jest; a flout; a jibe; mockery or jeer can be (nautical) a gear; a tackle.

jeer

English

Etymology 1

Perhaps a corruption of ).

Noun

(en noun)
  • A railing remark or reflection; a scoff; a taunt; a biting jest; a flout; a jibe; mockery.
  • * 1711 , , The Fable of Midas, in The Works of Jonathan Swift , D.D., Vol XII, Sir Walter Scott, ed., Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co., 1824, pages 302-5,
  • Midas, exposed to all their jeers , Had lost his art, and kept his ears.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To utter sarcastic or mocking comments; to speak with mockery or derision; to use taunting language.
  • * ,
  • But when he saw her toy and gibe and jeer .
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=October 1 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Everton 0 - 2 Liverpool , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=At the end of a frantic first 45 minutes, there was still time for Charlie Adam to strike the bar from 20 yards before referee Atkinson departed to a deafening chorus of jeering from Everton's fans.}}
  • (archaic) To mock; treat with mockery; to taunt; to flout.
  • * Ben Jonson
  • And if we cannot jeer' them, we ' jeer ourselves.
    Synonyms
    * (to utter sarcastic remarks) scoff, sneer * (to treat with scoffs) deride, flout, gibe, mock, ridicule

    Etymology 2

    Compare (gear).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (nautical) A gear; a tackle.
  • (nautical, in the plural) An assemblage or combination of tackles, for hoisting or lowering the yards of a ship.
  • *
  • Derived terms
    * jeer capstan

    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.}}

    See also

    * disparage * denigrate * vilipend