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depreciate

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Depreciate is defined as to decline in value over a period of time, or to reduce the value of assets in accounting records.

(verb)

When a piece of machinery becomes old and less valuable, this is an example of when the value depreciates.
When you own a machine that you use for your business and you reduce the value of the asset on your accounting records each year, this is an example of when you depreciate the value.

See depreciate in Webster's New World College Dictionary

transitive verb depreciated, depreciating

to reduce in value or price
to make seem less important; belittle; disparage

Origin: ME depreciaten < LL depretiatus, pp. of depretiare, to lower the price of (in LL(Ec), to make light of) < L de-, from + pretiare, to value < pretium, price

intransitive verb

to drop in value or price

Related Forms:

depreciator noun
depreciatory adjective or depreciative

See depreciate in American Heritage Dictionary 4

verb de·pre·ci·at·ed, de·pre·ci·at·ing, de·pre·ci·ates

verb, transitive

To lessen the price or value of.
To write off an expenditure for (a tangible asset) by prorating over a certain period, usually the estimated useful life of the asset.
To think or speak of as being of little worth; belittle. See Synonyms at decry. See Usage Note at deprecate.

verb, intransitive

To diminish in price or value.

Origin:

Origin: Medieval Latin dēpreciāre, dēpreciāt-

Origin: , alteration of Latin dēpretiāre

Origin: : dē-, de-

Origin: + pretium, price; see per-⁵ in Indo-European roots

Related Forms: