What does belittle mean?
Word: Belittle
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Belittle means to make someone or something seem small or unimportant, often by unkind words.
Synonyms: mock, downplay, ridicule, sneer at
Antonyms: admire, respect
How do you spell belittle?
Syllables: be - lit - tle
Tricky part: The word ends in le, not el or al. Belittel and belittal are the slips to watch for.
Watch out for: belittel, belittal
Memory tip: Belittle closes with le: the tall l stands first and the short e sits after it, as if the tall letter were looking down on the small one.
Belittle in a sentence
Example 1: A good captain never belittles a player who drops a catch.
Example 2: Jack felt hurt when his brother belittled his science model in front of the family.
Example 3: Do not belittle small savings; they add up over the years.
Fun Fact
The earliest known use of belittle is by Thomas Jefferson in his book Notes on the State of Virginia, written in the 1780s. Some British writers of the time made fun of it as a strange new word.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word: belittle
a) praise
b) insult
c) tease
d) scorn
Show answer
a) praise. Praise builds a person up; belittle cuts them down.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Kavya's cousins would often belitle her drawings, but she kept practising every evening.
a) belitle
b) practising
c) cousins
d) drawings
Show answer
a) belitle. Little has two t's, and it keeps both inside belittle.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) belittle
b) discurage
c) embarass
d) critisise
Show answer
a) belittle. Discourage keeps the ou of courage, criticise has a c after the t, and embarrass has a double r and a double s.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
eltbtile
a) belittle
b) belated
c) beetle
d) brittle
Show answer
a) belittle. Belated needs an a and a d, brittle an r, and beetle is too short to use all eight letters.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which remark belittles someone?
a) Anyone could have done that, it was nothing.
b) That was a brave try in a tough match.
c) You worked really hard on that model.
d) Can you show me how you made it?
Show answer
a) Anyone could have done that, it was nothing.
2. If you belittle a problem, you treat it as ____.
a) something to keep secret
b) someone else's job to solve
c) less serious than it really is
d) more serious than it really is
Show answer
c) less serious than it really is
