Disparage: meaning and SAT practice
Disparage (verb) means: To speak negatively about someone or something.
Disparage in a sentence
The critic disparaged the film as poorly written and badly acted.
Similar: belittle, denigrate, demean, criticize, insult. Opposite: praise, commend, compliment.
SAT-style practice: what does “disparage” most nearly mean?
The critic disparaged the film as poorly written and badly acted.
As used in the sentence, “disparage” most nearly means
- provoke
- precede
- belittle
- describe
Show the answer
Answer: C. “disparage” means: To speak negatively about someone or something. “belittle” is the closest match in this sentence. The other choices are real SAT-level words, but none of them carries that meaning here.
On the digital SAT this is the “Words in Context” skill, about 7 of the 54 Reading and Writing questions. The test asks what a word means as used in the passage, so a word’s most common meaning is not always the answer. More of these, with full explanations, are on SAT Words in Context practice questions.
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