How to Use belittling in a Sentence

belittling

noun
  • That led to me snapping at others and making comments that came off as belittling.
    — Emma Cardarelli, Bon Appétit, 16 Oct. 2020
  • The larger theme, though, was a culture of belittling players.
    — Theo MacKie, The Arizona Republic, 18 Aug. 2022
  • But the belittling and denouncing coming their way isn’t working.
    — Ann Killion, SFChronicle.com, 29 Aug. 2020
  • Key to his monologue was a constant belittling of mainstream media outlets, even as his power grew greater than many of them.
    — Matt Sedensky, Star Tribune, 17 Feb. 2021
  • Nor was the fact that much of our president’s career has been spent mocking, belittling, and degrading women.
    — Brittany Pettersen, Denver Post, 27 Feb. 2026
  • While in the embassy role, my manager was rude, belittling and exclusionary.
    — Roxane Gay, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2022
  • Screaming, berating and belittling were an accepted part of the package.
    — Paul Newberry, Chicago Tribune, 17 July 2023
  • Robinson also called Winder Newton belittling nicknames in the email.
    — Leia Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 23 Apr. 2021
  • His belittling boasts about swallowing Canada helped drive our nicest neighbor into the arms of China.
    — Maureen Dowd, Mercury News, 21 Jan. 2026
  • Marylynn is sitting next to Jessenia for this belittling conversation.
    — Ariana Romero, refinery29.com, 12 Jan. 2021
  • After a little more belittling of Brian and his station in life, Malcolm drunkenly pulls his sword from his scabbard and starts slashing wildly.
    — Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 10 Oct. 2025
  • The berating and belittling of rank-and-file employees and the network’s reliance on music videos glorifying drugs, violence, and misogynoir.
    — Ruth Umoh, Fortune, 20 Sep. 2023
  • The president has, for months, attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has so far survived the public belittling.
    — Josh Dawsey, Washington Post, 27 Mar. 2018
  • Not surprisingly, Bateman’s comments were met with a firestorm for being insensitive and belittling of Walter’s experience.
    — Don Reisinger, Fortune, 24 May 2018
  • Kwon, who developed a reputation for belittling and attacking critics of his project, has now been likened to Elizabeth Holmes, found guilty of fraud for her Theranos deception.
    — Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 13 May 2022
  • Part of the students’ motivation to produce MSD Strong was to combat the overwhelming misrepresentation and belittling of student activists.
    — Malavika Kannan, Teen Vogue, 20 Apr. 2018
  • Khawam said that after Fernandes reported in May that he had been inappropriately touched by a male superior, he was transferred to another unit, and word spread within the new unit, leading to harassment, belittling, bullying and hazing.
    — Cody Shepard, USA TODAY, 27 Aug. 2020
  • Researchers consistently identify behaviors such as ridicule, humiliation, yelling, swearing, hostile tone, public belittling, threats, intimidation, retaliation, exclusion, withholding information, unpredictable outbursts and unfair blame.
    — Susan Madsen, Forbes.com, 26 Feb. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'belittling.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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