as in slighting
intended to make a person or thing seem of little importance or value
used the detractive epithet "McJob" to describe what his feckless son-in-law did for work
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for detractive
Adjective
-
Considering there were only 33 appearances this past season, such Heat prudence hardly could be viewed as insulting.
-
What Florence has been doing is consistent and insulting.
Adjective
-
The man didn’t catch Serena’s contemptuous expression, however, too busy peeling bills from a money clip and pressing them into his date’s hand.
-
The fantasy of transforming a cold or contemptuous man through the sheer force of one’s love has caused real harm, and the critique of it is warranted.
Adjective
-
The unorthodox midterm convention comes as Democrats continue to poll stronger than Republicans ahead of November's critical elections.
-
Kennard could have provided a critical floor-spacing piece around Doncic, who thrives when surrounded by lob-catching centers, athletic wings and knockdown shooters.
Adjective
-
According to the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office, 37-year-old Adam Mazur-Baker was arraigned Tuesday on one count of using a computer to commit a crime and one count of malicious use of telecommunications services.
-
This command executes malicious code inside the AppleScript directly.
Adjective
-
Felix points to Trump’s disparaging and false comments against Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, which put a target on the back of many Haitian immigrants.
-
The irony is that Trump has been more disparaging and dismissive of the military than any other president.
Adjective
-
Amusingly enough, someone who was neither perplexed nor disdainful was a young cast member by the name of Stephen Colbert.
-
His whole behavior toward women is so disdainful.
Adjective
-
No one should be subject to listening to the most degrading and profane words that now seem popular with some people.
-
According to the company, the electronic attack variant is intended to provide non-kinetic effects on the battlefield by disrupting and degrading enemy sensors and reconnaissance networks.
Adjective
-
Not in the pejorative, party girl sense, but in a cool, chaotically chic way.
-
The term hillbilly, which is often considered pejorative, refers to isolated white Americans with origins in rural and mountainous areas, often in the South, Appalachia, or the Ozarks.
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Detractive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/detractive. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
