Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Tending to make or become worse.
- adj. Disparaging; belittling.
- n. A disparaging or belittling word or expression.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Tending or intended to depreciate or deteriorate, as the sense of a word; giving a low or bad sense to.
- n. In grammar, a word that depreciates or deteriorates the sense: thus, poetaster is a pejorative of poet, criticaster of critic.
Wiktionary
- adj. Disparaging, belittling or derogatory.
- n. A disparaging, belittling, or derogatory word or expression.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Implying or imputing evil; depreciatory; disparaging; unfavorable.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. expressing disapproval
Etymologies
- French 1882 péjorative ("depreciative, disparaging"), from Late Latin peioratus, past participle of peiorare ("make worse"), from Latin peior ("worse"). Compare English 1644 pejorate ("to worsen"), from the same etymology. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Was Sarah correct; That using the term “RETARDS” as a pejorative is insensitive and cruel?”
Think Progress » Palin says she’s fine with Limbaugh’s use of the ‘r-word.’
“After reviewing, GLAAD called on Universal to remove the scene where the word 'gay' was used as a pejorative from the trailer.”
The Huffington Post: Gay Slur REMOVED From 'The Dilemma' Trailer
“The double pejorative is unfortunate, as I also find the term to be pretty clever.”
“That use of the pejorative is by blacks, not whites. fifth monarchy man: Sort of like African Americans who were allowed to participate in southern society as long as they acted like white folks.”
“That use of the pejorative is by blacks, not whites.”
“They use gambling only in pejorative contexts, as in “problem gambling.””
“Why “masculine” tends to be a term of praise and “feminine” (or worse, effeminate) pejorative is another matter.”
By the Letters : Christian Bök : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation
“The sense in which “multiculturalism” deserves to be used as a pejorative is that which entails a kind of balkanization of public norms, with different rules and standards applying to different groups — the sense in which both the citizenry and the individual citizen dissolve into a crazy-quilt of intermediate identities.”
“This same progression, from neutral to pejorative, is happening with the words challenged and special, used in the same sense, today.”
“I suspect part of the issue with Goody Two-Shoes becoming a pejorative is that the term “Goody” is being misread.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pejorative’.
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allover
reintegrate, spight, surveillant, harmonize, Colophon, workplace, bigoted, unsighted, bridgework, salutation, voltmeter, octane and 159 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Naresh_Gre2
convoke, cosset, coterie, declaim, distaff, doff, dovetail, droll, dyspeptic, egress, ersatz, euphemism and 108 more...
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GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
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GRE
droll, dyspeptic, ebullient, ardor, edify, efficacy, malinger, mannered, martinet, maudlin, mendacious, mendicant and 102 more...
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The Spoken Word
Words relating to Conversation
adage, adamant, brusque, candor, cavil, compelling, didactic, disparage, emphatic, facetious, frank, fulminate and 7 more...
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Vocabulary
shibboleth, verboten, jejune, ostensible, multifarious, quintessence, purportedly, tangential, vacillate, quagmire, wanton, onerous and 74 more...
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EN - high brow
abrogate, abstemious, abstract of law, alderman, apocryphal, apostasy, apoplexy, apotheosis, apposite, aver, decorous, apprehensive and 51 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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No, thank you
Words with negative connotations
fetid, furtive, guile, chicanery, prevaricate, prodigal, meretricious, myopic, noisome, nominal, perfidious, perfunctory and 2 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1901 more...
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List 015
compelling, clandestine, capacious, captivate, amicable, emulate, fetter, frugal, hackneyed, hiatus, inane, jubilant and 13 more...
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GRE Reference
A list of words unfamiliar to me that I have repeatedly encountered in GRE question sets.
parochial, clique, salacious, aegis, ostracize, conceited, sacrilegious, inane, serendipity, gourmand, polemic, tenuous and 138 more...
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apjoseph's words
insurmountable, ubiquitous, unequivocal, incumbent, asinine, amenable, sycophants, precarious, malevolent, gregarious, raison detra, nefarious and 200 more...
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spicolli's Words
terrapin, ravenous, fuck, sepulchral, garlic, suss, queer, curmudgeon, foodie, intricate, omphalos, subversion and 534 more...
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My Revised GRE Preparation List
Words from the new GRE : This list consists mostly of words from the book Magoosh-GRE-vocab-ebook, which is one of the best vocab materials available, especially if you have started preparing one ...
mulct, dupe, pittance, stipend, defray, cupidity, avarice, prodigal, profligate, affluent, insolvent, penurious and 533 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for pejorative.
blafferty The word itself sounds like you're spitting. If you say it in the right tone of voice it sounds like a Klingon insult. May 24, 2009
chained_bear I like this word. I also like depreciatory. Oct 17, 2007