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discredit Definition

dis·credit (dis kred′it)

transitive verb

  1. to reject as untrue; disbelieve
  2. to be a reason for disbelieving or distrusting; cast doubt on their earlier lies discredit anything they may say
  3. to damage the credit or reputation of; disgrace

noun

  1. absence or loss of belief or trust; disbelief; doubt
  2. damage to one's reputation; loss of respect or status; disgrace; dishonor
  3. something that causes disgrace or loss of status

discredit Synonyms

discredit

n.

censure, reproach, disrepute; see blame 1, disgrace 1.

discredit Synonyms

discredit

v.

  1. To bring into disrepute

    defame, dishonor, cast doubt on, undermine; see censure, depreciate 2, disprove.

  2. To doubt

    question, disbelieve, distrust; see doubt 2.

discredit Usage Examples

Object

  • critic: After all, she was not protecting a whistleblower, but a senior government official seeking to discredit a critic.
  • notion: Now, with hindsight, we can see that the idea was to discredit the very notion of statehood for Chechnya.
  • witness: Lawyers commonly discredit a witness by showing some fault or contradiction in their testimony.
  • regime: Those senseless blasts beneath the ground do not, as some suggest, discredit that regime.
  • theory: Modern science has all but permanently discredited theories of biological racial superiority.

Subject

  • scientist: It is not obvious to theorists since this area has been effectively discredited by scientists who regard it as a threat.
  • evidence: The idea of a fixed natural rate of unemployment consistent with stable inflation was discredited by the evidence of the 1980s.

Adjective modifier

  • eternal: The UN, to its eternal discredit, sat on its hands.

Modifying Another Word

  • thoroughly: The evidence that has been produced has been thoroughly discredited [ 2 ] .
  • utterly: Utterly discredited, Bacon was forced to change his position by student pressure.
  • largely: The doctrine of cohesion appears, therefore, to be largely discredited.
  • totally: The latter might be totally discredited without in the least shaking the validity of the principle.
  • hugely: There can be no clearer illustration than Labor's hugely discredited waiting list initiative.
  • widely: The Stability Pact has been widely discredited by events over the past few years.

Used with why or when

  • when: Prominent leaders have come under the searchlight of the media and have been publicly discredited when secret scandals in their lives have been exposed.

Preposition: in

  • eye: The general obscurity which still shadows the Ottoman era must ac count for the rest of its discredit in the eyes of modern historians.

Preposition: by

  • scientist: It is not obvious to theorists since this area has been effectively discredited by scientists who regard it as a threat.
  • association: Your views will be discredited by association with the violence that always happens on a day like today?
  • evidence: The idea of a fixed natural rate of unemployment consistent with stable inflation was discredited by the evidence of the 1980s.