devalue
/diːˈvaljuː
/verb (devalues, devaluing, devalued) [with object]
1Reduce or underestimate the worth or importance of: I resent the way people seem to devalue my achievement...
- One aspect of the problem is that playing Bangladesh regularly is inflating the statistics of players from other teams who play them a lot, and devaluing the importance of test matches.
- But it has a downside: one of them would lose, and Warren would have to decide whether it is worth devaluing one of his commodities to advance the other.
- By using knowledge in an instrumental way, it devalues its importance.
Synonyms
belittle, depreciate, disparage, denigrate, decry, deprecate, make light of, treat lightly, discredit, underrate, undervalue, underestimate, deflate, detract from, diminish, minimize, trivialize, run down, traduce, defame
informal knock, slam, pan, bad-mouth, sell short, put down, pooh-pooh, look down one's nose at, do down, do a hatchet job on, take to pieces, pull apart, pick holes in, drag through the mud, have a go at, hit out at
British informal rubbish, slate, slag off
archaic cry down, hold cheap
rare derogate, misprize, minify
1.1 Economics Reduce the official value of (a currency) in relation to other currencies: the dinar was devalued by 20 per cent...
- In March 1995 the Spanish and Portuguese currencies were devalued by 7 and 3 per cent, respectively.
- Inflation, which is always politically engineered, devalues currencies, debases trust and takes years to work its way out of investors' perceptions.
- Analysts argue, for example, that China, widely considered to have played a constructive role in helping East Asia recover from the last crisis, did so by sticking to its market reform efforts and not devaluing its currency.