pejorative
having a disparaging, derogatory, or belittling effect or force: the pejorative affix -ling in princeling.
a pejorative form or word, as poetaster.
Origin of pejorative
1Other words for pejorative
Other words from pejorative
- pe·jo·ra·tive·ly, adverb
- non·pe·jo·ra·tive, adjective
- non·pe·jo·ra·tive·ly, adverb
- un·pe·jo·ra·tive, adjective
- un·pe·jo·ra·tive·ly, adverb
Words Nearby pejorative
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use pejorative in a sentence
Now, as you know well, for many people, the very word “shortcut” is a pejorative.
It takes courage to be your true self when your identity has been used as an insult or a pejorative.
How Much Longer Will Major League Baseball Stay In The Closet? | LGBTQ-Editor | October 30, 2021 | No Straight NewsThe Senate bill, meanwhile, makes it a felony for many people to engage in “vote harvesting,” a pejorative term for picking up another person’s absentee ballot and taking it to a polling place.
The GOP voting bill that literally caused Texas Democrats to flee the state, explained | Ian Millhiser | July 13, 2021 | VoxThe ridicule goes back to the very origins of the word ham, a pejorative that professional radio operators at the beginning of the 20th century used to single out amateurs with “ham-fisted” Morse-code skills.
The entire Lifeline program has come under fire from opponents starting during the Obama administration, when it gained the pejorative nickname, “Obama phone.”
The FCC is about to undergo a huge shift that could drastically affect the internet | Stan Horaczek | January 22, 2021 | Popular-Science
At its most pejorative, the term describes a uniquely disposable kind of young gay man: Hairless, guileless, witless.
In Spanish the word joke (broma) is not at all pejorative, it is playful.
The late Andrew Breitbart even offered a $100,000 reward for audio or video of Lewis being called a racial pejorative.
“A Billy Collins poem” has even been used as a pejorative term in certain workshop settings.
Why Billy Collins Is America’s Most Popular Poet | Austen Rosenfeld | October 22, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTGrossman is quick to point out that he does not consider the term “sheep” a pejorative.
He consistently uses "Jew" as a pejorative adjective instead of "Jewish."
Nina Balatka | Anthony TrollopeBut given its age and its purpose this ought not to be construed in the contemporary, pejorative sense.
Diego Collado's Grammar of the Japanese Language | Diego ColladoThis term is a pejorative which may be applied also to the exercise of our other senses.
The Natural Philosophy of Love | Remy de GourmontAlternatively, Professor A. Dalzell points out to me that illa could have a pejorative sense.
The Last Poems of Ovid | Ovid
British Dictionary definitions for pejorative
/ (pɪˈdʒɒrətɪv, ˈpiːdʒər-) /
(of words, expressions, etc) having an unpleasant or disparaging connotation
a pejorative word, expression, etc
Origin of pejorative
1Derived forms of pejorative
- pejoratively, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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