Discredit

How to spell discredit

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce discredit

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does discredit mean?

1. verbTo harm the reputation or believability of a person, claim, or piece of evidence.
2. nounLoss of reputation, respect, or the state of being doubted.

Discredit in a sentence

• verb

  The lawyers tried to discredit the only witness in the case.

• noun

  The scandal brought lasting discredit on the whole department.

• verb

  Rival firms spread rumours to discredit the new product.

• noun

  His repeated lies brought him into discredit among colleagues.

Where does discredit come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built from the Latin verb credere, meaning 'to believe' or 'to trust', the same root that gives English 'credit', 'creed', and 'credible'. In commercial Latin and later in English, 'credit' came to mean the trust or good standing that lets someone be believed or lent money. The prefix dis-, meaning 'not' or 'the reverse of', was attached in the late 1500s to form 'discredit', literally to undo someone's credibility or take away the trust placed in them. From the start it carried two linked ideas: to refuse to believe something, and to damage the reputation that makes a person believable. Because the spelling keeps the whole word 'credit' intact, the trap is simply remembering the single s in dis- and that no letter doubles where the prefix meets the root.

How the word is built

• dis- (not, reverse of)
• credit (from Latin credere: to believe, to trust)