[As a transitive verb, derogate means to disparage. As an intransitive verb, it means to detract, so as to impair the value or effectiveness of something, or to deviate from. .] All jobs require us at some point to deliver bad news. We dread such discussions even when the revelations aren’t at all our fault. It turns out that our aversion is for good reason. Our research shows that people are prone to derogating those who tell them things they don’t want to hear—we shoot the messenger. (Leslie John, “When Receiving Bad News, We Shoot the Messenger,” Harvard Business Review, 4/16/2019.)
When used in the sense of disparage, this word can also be a synonym for criticize, belittle, vilify, denigrate, deride and scorn.
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