different between insinuate vs pejorative

English

Etymology

From Latin ?nsinu? (“to push in, creep in, steal in”), from in (“in”) + sinus (“a winding, bend, bay, fold, bosom”)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /?n?s?njue?t/

Verb

insinuate (third-person singular simple present insinuates, present participle insinuating, simple past and past participle insinuated)

1. To hint; to suggest tacitly (usually something bad) while avoiding a direct statement.

   She insinuated that her friends had betrayed her.

2. (rare) To creep, wind, or flow into; to enter gently, slowly, or imperceptibly, as into crevices.
   • 1728-1729, John Woodward, An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England

     Water will insinuate itself into Flints through certain imperceptible Cracks

3. (figuratively, by extension) To ingratiate; to obtain access to or introduce something by subtle, cunning or artful means.
   • 1995, Terry Pratchett, Maskerade, p. 242

     Nanny didn't so much enter places as insinuate herself; she had unconsciously taken a natural talent for liking people and developed it into an occult science.

   • All the art of rhetoric, besides order and clearness, are for nothing else but to insinuate wrong ideas, move the passions, and thereby mislead the judgment.

   • Horace laughs to shame all follies and insinuates virtue, rather by familiar examples than by the severity of precepts.

   • He […] insinuated himself into the very good grace of the Duke of Buckingham.

   • he insinuated himself into the confidence of one already so forlorn

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:allude

Related terms

• insinuation
• insinuator
• sinuous

Translations

Further reading

• insinuate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• insinuate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• annuities

Italian

Verb

insinuate

1. second-person plural present indicative of insinuare
2. second-person plural imperative of insinuare
3. feminine plural of insinuato

Latin

Verb

?nsinu?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of ?nsinu?

English

Etymology

French 1882 péjorative (“depreciative, disparaging”), from Late Latin p?i?r?tus, past participle of p?i?r?re (“make worse”), from Latin p?ior (“worse”). Compare English 1644 pejorate (“to worsen”), from the same etymology.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p??d????t?v/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /p??d??????v/, /p??d??????v/

Adjective

pejorative (comparative more pejorative, superlative most pejorative)

1. Disparaging, belittling or derogatory.

Synonyms

• derogatory
• dyslogistic
• disrespectful

Antonyms

• approbative
• eulogistic
• meliorative

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

pejorative (plural pejoratives)

1. A disparaging, belittling, or derogatory word or expression.

Synonyms

• dyslogism
• dysphemism

Antonyms

• approvative
• euphemism

Translations

References

• pejorative at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “pejorative”, in Online Etymology Dictionary