different between depreciate vs cheapen

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin depretiare, depretiatus, from de- + pretium (“price”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??p?i???e?t/

Verb

depreciate (third-person singular simple present depreciates, present participle depreciating, simple past and past participle depreciated)

1. (transitive) To lessen in price or estimated value; to lower the worth of.
   • 1678, Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe

     […] which […] some over-severe philosophers may look upon fastidiously, or undervalue and depreciate.

   • 1 December, 1783, Edmund Burke, speech on Fox's East India Bill

     To prove that the Americans ought not to be free, we are obliged to depreciate the value of freedom itself.

2. (intransitive) To decline in value over time.
3. (transitive) To belittle or disparage.

Usage notes

• Do not confuse with deprecate (“to disapprove of”). The meaning of deprecate has lately been encroaching on depreciate in the sense 'to belittle'.

Synonyms

• (reduce in value over time):
• (belittle): do down

Antonyms

• (reduce in value over time): appreciate
• (belittle): aggrandise/aggrandize, big up (slang)

Translations

Anagrams

• etacepride

English

Etymology

cheap +? -en

Verb

cheapen (third-person singular simple present cheapens, present participle cheapening, simple past and past participle cheapened)

1. (transitive) to decrease the value of; to make cheaper
2. (transitive) to make vulgar
3. (intransitive) to become cheaper
4. (transitive, obsolete) to bargain for, ask the price of.

Derived terms

• cheapen out

Translations

Anagrams

• ha'pence, peachen