16 April 2015

deprecate

[dep-ri-keyt]

verb (used with object), deprecated, deprecating.
1. to express earnest disapproval of.
2. to urge reasons against; protest against (a scheme, purpose, etc.).
3. to depreciate; belittle.
4. Archaic. to pray for deliverance from.

Origin of deprecate
Latin
1615-1625; < Latin dēprecātus prayed against, warded off (past participle of dēprecārī), equivalent to dē- de- + prec (ārī) to pray + -ātus -ate1

Related forms
deprecatingly, adverb
deprecation, noun
deprecator, noun
half-deprecating, adjective
half-deprecatingly, adverb

Can be confused
deprecate, depreciate (see usage note at the current entry)

Synonyms
1. condemn, denounce, disparage. See decry.

Usage note
An early and still the most current sense of deprecate is “to express disapproval of.” In a sense development still occasionally criticized by a few, deprecate has come to be synonymous with the similar but etymologically unrelated word depreciate in the sense “belittle”: The author modestly deprecated the importance of his work.In compounds with self-, deprecate has almost totally replaced depreciate in modern usage: Her self-deprecating account of her career both amused and charmed the audience.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for deprecate
– Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.
– To use this tactic is merely to deprecate the motives of one’s opponents rather than to argue the evidence.
– The first and fully accepted meaning of deprecate is to express disapproval of.

Anagram

aced peter
deter cape
deep trace

Today’s aphorism

One of the secrets of a long and fruitful life is to forgive everybody everything everynight before you go to bed.

– Bernard Baruch

On this day

16 April – Panda Appreciation Day. It was on this day in 1972, that the People’s Republic of China presented US President Richard Nixon with two pandas, Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing.

16 April 73AD – The Great Jewish Revolt ends when the fortress Masada falls to the Romans.

16 April 1850 – death of Marie Tussaud, French-English sculptor, founder of Madam Tussaud’s wax museum. Born 1 December 1761.

16 April 1917 – Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd, Russia following exile in Switzerland.

16 April 1947 – Bernard Baruch coins the term ‘Cold War’ to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.

16 April 1990 – Dr Jack Kevorkian, (euthanasia activist, otherwise known as the Doctor of Death) participates in his first assisted suicide.