denigrate

****************************************************************
Attention word gurus:  try WORD SWEEP!, the first board game to feature 
Merriam-Webster definitions! Available at Borders Bookstores.
http://www.wordsweep.com
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for October 22 is: 

denigrate   \DEN-ih-grayt\   verb
          1 : to attack the reputation of : defame 
    *2 : to deny the importance or validity of : belittle 

Example sentence:
          Although some medical experts denigrate the new technology, others 
believe that the experimental results have been quite promising.

Did you know?
          If you "denigrate" someone, you attempt to blacken their reputation. 
It makes sense, therefore, that "denigrate" can be traced back to the Latin 
verb "denigrare," meaning "to blacken." When "denigrate" was first used in 
English in the 16th century, it meant to cast aspersions on someone's character 
or reputation. Eventually, it developed a second sense of "to make black" 
("factory smoke denigrated the sky"), but this sense is somewhat rare in modern 
usage. Nowadays, of course, “denigrate” can also refer to belittling the worth 
or importance of someone or something.





You Are Subscribed As: gclw-mw-wod7@xxxxxxxxx

To unsubscribe, please click here:
http://www.drhinternet.net/mw/u/966408/568f14b4ab4f050b/N172L6

To change your e-mail address or to subscribe to the html
version of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, featuring audio
pronunciations, please visit:
http://mw.drhinternet.net/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2007 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street
P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102