Definition
Belittling refers to the act of making someone or something seem unimportant or insignificant, usually through condescending or dismissive behavior or words.
Pronunciation
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UK English
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Excerpts from News Articles
1
Then, as has happened after incidents from the Sandy Hook mass shooting to the disappearance of British woman Nicola Bulley, an internet mob formed: Lee and his family's personal tragedy was mocked, belittled and misrepresented online.
2
Petrol bombs and punishment beatings: paramilitaries still rooted in Northern Ireland Read more Women who helped strike Good Friday deal finally recognised – 25 years late It took a quarter of a century but Mo Mowlam and other women who helped clinch the Good Friday agreement are finally gaining recognition. After years of being belittled , marginalised or forgotten, the late Northern Ireland secretary and other figures are receiving tributes from politicians, diplomats and artists on the eve of the agreement’s 25th anniversary. An exhibition titled Peace Heroines has opened at the UN’s headquarters in New York.
3
Maté was derided in the press as a “so-called ‘trauma expert’”; headlines pitched him as a “Holocaust survivor who hails Hamas as ‘heroes’”; and there was criticism of his diagnosis of Harry as having ADD. Also, his – stylish, it should be said – collarless shirt was belittled .
4
“You don’t have to belittle or disrespect other religions while celebrating your festival,” he said. “It is particularly humiliating to witness it during the month of Ramadan. The music gets louder and people get aggressive, especially while passing by a mosque or through a Muslim area. It is provocative.”
5
It's not just the first quarter that is getting pummeled. Strategists are openly belittling estimates for the second half of the year, which currently are stronger than the first half. Indeed, it looks like a race to the bottom to see who can claim the mantle of "lowest estimate on the Street" for full-year 2023 earnings.
6
Cruz’s new posture comes after he survived a near miss in his 2018 campaign, edging out Democratic rival Beto O’Rourke by a mere 2.6 points in the Republican stronghold. O’Rourke spent his campaign belittling Cruz as “all talk and no action” — a senator who’d spent six years slinging partisan arrows and delivering nothing for Texas.
7
So, you have to go back to the baseline and set your own expectations. Go back to your job description. Look at what you need to be doing in your job. Ask yourself, am I doing this to the best of my ability? Am I making mistakes? Take inventory of what you're doing, and how you're doing it so that you can hold on to your professional self and not let anybody compromise it or belittle it.
8
To be clear – this isn’t an exercise in belittling people’s belief systems; merely a dive into certain songs which aren’t quite what they initially appear. And before anyone gets upset, let’s not forget that the fact that we humans have a sense of humour should indicate that God and Jesus have one too. After all, being made in His image strongly suggests we share similar attributes.
9
Speaking to reporters on the way home from a Texas rally last month, Trump belittled the size of DeSantis’s book tour crowds — incorrectly. He claimed DeSantis’ biggest crowd in Iowa was 179 people; in fact, it was more than a thousand.
10
Worse: it smacks of being pedantic for the sake of it – it also wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say it has an element of control. It looks very much like a power move, and a belittling one at that. It feels distinctly humiliating to tax Hall with “proving” her status within the household. It makes the entire marriage seem transactional.
11
Siebert, who worked for nearly eight years to bring Amorth’s story to the big screen, says “The Pope’s Exorcist” has not changed his views about horror films or exorcism; both give him the chills. But it warms his heart to see a priest shown in a positive light after so many films and TV shows have vilified or belittled them.
12
Talbot adds that those who escalate disputes often have what could politely be called a fragile ego. ‘They are somebody who finds battles with people just so they can win and get some aggrandisement,’ he says. ‘They want to triumph over people, as an antidote to feeling disliked, belittled or humiliated. It doesn’t make sense, but it goes quite deep, sometimes back to their childhoods. Donald Trump is a nice example. He doesn’t have people he disagrees with; he has mortal enemies.’
13
He added that the inquiry into the allegation “dismissed all but two of the claims leveled against me” and “concluded I has not once, in four and a half years, sworn or shouted at anyone, let alone thrown anything or otherwise physically intimidated anyone, nor intentionally sought to belittle anyone.”
14
James L Brooks gave Nicholson a huge character turn in his bittersweet romantic comedy-drama constructed around his persona, which by this time had gone past the larger-than-life stage and was something else entirely: a one-man Mount Rushmore of movie stardom. He is the cantankerous novelist with OCD and a need to insult and belittle everyone, including Helen Hunt’s waitress and Greg Kinnear’s gay artist.
15
Raab, who was justice secretary as well as deputy prime minister, had faced multiple formal complaints over his dealings with civil servants across three departments including claims, first revealed by the Guardian, that he bullied and belittled staff, driving some to tears or causing them to throw up before meetings.
16
Ironically, if Sunak had worked for Raab, this slow pace of work would have resulted in him getting belittled for being a useless waste of space. The saga ended up dragging on so long that by yesterday evening people had begun to think Raab might actually end up butching it out.
17
Raab, 49, denied claims he belittled and demeaned his staff and said he “behaved professionally at all times,” but had said he would resign if the bullying complaints were upheld.
18
It must be incredibly difficult for the prime minister to have to come to a view of whether the allegations, which include belittling staff, both junior and senior and, “ruining peoples lives” through “coercive behaviour” is what he had in mind when he promised that return to “professionalism and accountability”.
19
With the Lakers’ sellout crowd booing his every move, Brooks had just seven points on 3-for-13 shooting before his ejection. He drew the Lakers fans’ ire for his behavior during and after Game 2, when the 27-year-old Brooks called the 38-year-old James “old” and belittled James’ abilities.
20
“As has been said before, this House will move forward with dignity and integrity, which means there will be no belittling of people’s votes or belittling of people’s motives,” Regier said. “We will keep it to the issues at hand, and if you cannot follow that, you will not be recognized.”
21
According to the Buenos Aires Herald, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luciano Luque, one of the main defendants in the case, is accused of not performing “adequate follow-ups with controls and cardiological tests,” as well as having “systematically ignored and belittled the symptoms and signs compatible with heart failure that were reported to him,” among other things.
22
Raab noted that the inquiry dismissed all but two complaints about him personally. The Tory heavyweight was accused of belittling staff, driving some to tears or causing them to vomit before meetings, according to media reports. He denied any wrongdoing.
23
Raab has not gone quietly. In his letter to the PM, he argued that ministers “must be able to give direct critical feedback on briefings and submissions to senior officials,” and said he had not “shouted at anyone, let alone thrown anything or otherwise physically intimidated anyone, nor intentionally sought to belittle anyone.” The ex-justice secretary swiftly took to the op-ed section of the right-leaning Daily Telegraph to decry the “Kafkaesque saga” he said he had endured.
24
Of course, this must be done within reasonable bounds. Mr Tolley concluded that I had not once, in four and a half years, sworn or shouted at anyone, let alone thrown anything or otherwise physically intimidated anyone, nor intentionally sought to belittle anyone. I am genuinely sorry for any unintended stress or offence that any officials felt, as a result of the pace, standards and challenge that I brought to the Ministry of Justice.
25
Carlson has embraced the “great replacement theory”: the idea that Jews and Democrats want to replace white people with non-white voters. After the murder of George Floyd by police officers in 2020, he belittled Black Lives Matter protesters as “criminal mobs”.
26
As head of booking for Carlson’s show, Grossberg endured “a work environment that subjugates women based on vile sexist stereotypes, typecasts religious minorities and belittled their traditions, and demonstrates little to no regard for those suffering from mental illness,” reads the complaint.
27
In a legal filing, she alleges that Carlson created "a work environment that subjugated women based on vile sexist stereotypes, type-casted religious minorities and belittled their traditions, and demonstrated little to no regard for mental health.” So, pretty much what you saw from him on television.
28
McCaskill, the lawsuit claims, “habitually belittled female employees”. While pitching a promotional idea for Carlson’s End of Men documentary, McCaskill remarked that the breastfeeding “mother’s room” was a “waste of space” and should be replaced with a “room of tanning beds for the guys to tan their testicles”, a practice featured on TCT.
29
Ms Grossberg claims in a federal court filing that Carlson's show "subjugates women based on vile sexist stereotypes" and that it "typecasts" religious minorities and " belittles their traditions."
30
“I hope the next time there’s an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands,” she said. The remark provoked outrage from Republicans who said the language was belittling and an affront to civil discourse.
31
When it comes to Chinese involvement in Africa, Professor Deborah Bräutigam, the author of "The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa," is one of the foremost experts. Her conclusions, drawn from extensive research, case studies, and interviews, show how China's presence on the continent works primarily on a win-win basis that doesn't belittle Africans and provides the much-needed finance and infrastructure support.
32
In her suit, Grossberg describes an environment at Fox News that "subjugates women based on vile sexist stereotypes, typecasts religious minorities and belittles their traditions, and demonstrates little to no regard for those suffering from mental illness."
33
Cross-examination of Carroll began Thursday. Tacopina was probably not the right guy to handle this. Gruff, belittling and heavy-handed, he scored few if any hits and frequently drew rebukes from the judge. Carroll freely admitted her memory holes and tersely pushed back on his insinuations that she was in this for the money.
34
In an email Sunday to colleagues, including the state party chairman, Mr. Sullivan apologized for behavior that included belittling and marginalizing his subordinates and said he and the governor agreed he should relinquish his responsibilities “for the foreseeable future.”
35
Lateral violence equates to a psychologically unsafe environment. This can be bullying, exclusion or freezing people out, belittling others’ opinions, snide comments or remarks, gossiping, mobbing or sharing personal information.
