Definitions
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective discouraging. Opposite of
encouraging .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb Present participle of
demoralize . - adjective
disheartening
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective destructive of morale and self-reliance
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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On television this sort of thing is enormously effective in demoralizing the innocent and well-mannered who, acting in good faith, do not lie or make personal insults, Buckley has made many honorable men look dishonest fools by his demagoguery, and by the time they recover from his first assault and are ready to retaliate, the program is over.
r_urell: William F. Buckley: Father of Modern "Conservatism" r_urell 2010
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I am so sick of the race card, I am so sick of this bipartisan bickering that Congress is more interested in demoralizing the other party than serving the citizens of America.
Bill Clinton weighs in on charges of racism against Obama 2009
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What's more demoralizing is that so many people seem to buy into it.
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Works every time in demoralizing the home front unless spinners follow the media/academia nihilists who say the glass is half empty.
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Nhan Dan, underscored the importance of the overall proselytizing effort in demoralizing the American war effort: It was essential to our strategy.
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"No," Mientkiewicz says, "demoralizing is the 26 teams that are sitting on the couch, drinking beer and watching these games.
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Probably no one but Mark Twain ever conceived the idea of demoralizing a whole community — of making its “nineteen leading citizens” ridiculous by leading them into a cheap, glittering temptation, and having them yield and openly perjure themselves at the very moment when their boasted incorruptibility was to amaze the world.
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Even my mother, who in some ways was stupid and hard, noticed that this sort of education was likely to have what is called a demoralizing effect on me.
An Anarchist Woman Hutchins Hapgood 1906
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Probably no one but Mark Twain ever conceived the idea of demoralizing a whole community -- of making its "nineteen leading citizens" ridiculous by leading them into a cheap, glittering temptation, and having them yield and openly perjure themselves at the very moment when their boasted incorruptibility was to amaze the world.
Mark Twain, a Biography — Volume II, Part 2: 1886-1900 Albert Bigelow Paine 1899
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Probably no one but Mark Twain ever conceived the idea of demoralizing a whole community -- of making its "nineteen leading citizens" ridiculous by leading them into a cheap, glittering temptation, and having them yield and openly perjure themselves at the very moment when their boasted incorruptibility was to amaze the world.
Mark Twain, a Biography. Complete Albert Bigelow Paine 1899
GHibbs commented on the word demoralizing
In British English we normally use 'demoralising'.
August 22, 2011