Search the Dictionary

The act of giving out or bestowing. [Obs.] Sir T. Elyot.

disparagement; detraction; depreciation; -- followed by of, from, or to. I hope it is no derogation to the Christian religion. Locke. He counted it no derogation of his manhood to be seen to weep. F. W. Robertson.

act of supererogating; performance of more than duty or necessity requires. Works of supererogation (R. C. Ch.), those good deeds believed to have been performed by saints, or capable of being performed by men, over and above what is required for their own salvation.

A dealer in aphorisms. [Used in derogation or contempt.] Milton.

Tending to derogate, or lessen in value; expressing derogation; detracting; injurious; -- with from to, or unto. Acts of Parliament derogatory from the power of subsequent Parliaments bind not. Blackstone. His language was severely censured by some of his brother peers as derogatory to their other. Macaulay. Derogatory…

s spoken; utterance of false, malicious, and defamatory words, tending to the damage and derogation of another; calumny. See the Note under Defamation. Burril.

To do more than duty requires; to perform works of supererogation; to atone (for a dificiency in another) by means of a surplus action or quality. The fervency of one man in prayer can not supererogate for the coldness of another. Milton.

To say by way of derogation or contradiction. [Obs.] Spenser.