1800-1900Late Latinpejoratus, past participle of pejorare ‘to make worse’, from Latinpejor ‘worse’
Examples
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
He used the word 'girl' in the pejorative sense when referring to the women who worked for him.
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
A properly planned and monitored investment programme is needed, but ill informed and pejorative assertions are unhelpful.
And so it acquired its contemporary, pejorative connotation of idle chatter.
During the Industrial Revolution, many Birmingham goods were cheap to buy, but does cheapness justify the pejorative term worthless?
However, we should be wary lest use of such an emotive and pejorative term leads to premature dismissal of legitimate arguments.
I was, and this is the most pejorative label in all of caddying, a bag carrier.
The new terminology will quickly become pejorative.
The psychiatric model added other, more pejorative, associations with overweight.
Thesaurus
Longman Language Activatorshowing disapproval►disapproving
if someone speaks to you or looks at you in a disapproving way, they show by the way they talk or look that they disapprove of you: · The announcement of a further pay increase for politicians provoked disapproving comments from the leader of the opposition party.disapproving glance/look/stare: · John gave me a disapproving look when I suggested another drink.
►derogatory
a derogatory remark expresses disapproval of something or someone and is often also insulting: · I wish you wouldn't make derogatory remarks about members of my family.· I didn't like the way he made derogatory comments about his colleagues.
►pejorative
formal a pejorative word expresses disapproval, often in an offensive way: · He used the word 'girl' in the pejorative sense when referring to the women who worked for him.
Collocations
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES►a derogatory/pejorative term
(=one that is insulting or disapproving)· ‘Pinko’ is a derogatory term for someone with socialist ideas.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSNOUN►term
· However, we should be wary lest use of such an emotive and pejorative term leads to premature dismissal of legitimate arguments.· Permissiveness is used almost universally as a pejorative term.· During the Industrial Revolution, many Birmingham goods were cheap to buy, but does cheapness justify the pejorative term worthless?
a word or expression that is pejorative is used to show disapproval or to insult someone: For hard-line Republicans, the word ‘liberal’ had become a pejorative term.—pejoratively adverb