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# The Good Oil Word of the Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/the-good-oil-word-of-the-day-144/
- Published: 2024-12-21T17:15:39.000Z
- Updated: 2024-12-21T17:15:38.000Z
- Author: David Theobald
- Tags: General, Word of the Day

The word for today is…

denigrate (verb):

1: to attack the reputation of : defame  
2: to deny the importance or validity of : belittle

Source : [Merriam -Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/denigrate?ref=goodoil.news)

Etymology : The word denigrate has been part of English since the 16th century and can be traced back to the Latin nigrare, meaning "to blacken." When denigrate was first used, it meant "to cast aspersions on someone's character or reputation." Eventually, it developed a second sense of "to make black" ("factory smoke denigrated the sky"), representing an interesting case of a literal sense (now rare) foll

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