Pejorative is one of the most underrated words in the modern world. Here is pejorative’s meaning, where it comes from, and how to use it!
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Kevin
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January 11, 2022
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The word pejorative is one of the most expressive words in the English language. The amount of meaning and emphasis that it brings can express hostility and disdain effectively. Because of its many uses, it’s essential to understand this word and how it can be used today.
It helps to properly ascribe meaning and semantics to words that have a heavily negative feeling. Knowing how to use it in the right way can enable one to use and understand the English language in a fresh and up-to-date manner. Here is what pejorative means, its etymology, and how to use it in daily conversation.
What Does Pejorative Mean?
Pejorative (pe-jo-ra-tive), as defined in the English Language dictionary, can be used as both an adjective and a noun.
When used as an adjective, pejorative is used to express disregard, contempt, or extreme distaste in something. It is almost exclusively used to describe a disrespectful connotation or lack of respect and is often used to describe slurs, ridicule, and insults. It ascribes meaning and contextual information to negative things and ideas, like a pejorative nickname, pejorative affix, or a pejorative definition.
When used as a noun, pejorative is defined as a word that expresses a derogatory and defamatory meaning. It is commonly used within the same context as synonyms like an insult, affront, or defamation.
In most senses, the adjective and noun versions of the word are virtually identical; they are used in different grammatical forms. As long as you know how to properly use the word, you should be good to use it in any situation dealing with harmful speech to or from someone.
What Is the Etymology of Pejorative?
The word’s etymology is relatively typical for the English language and has most of its roots in Latin. The first place where the word is seen is in the Early Latin prior or pejor, which meant “worse.” As the language developed, it progressed into the Late Latin pējōrātus (the past participle of pējōrāre) which means “make worse.”
As time went on and other languages became more prominent, the word was incorporated into other languages. In French, the term became péjorative or péjoratif, which transposed the exact meaning of the Late Latin peioratus, meaning to “make worse.”
Around the beginning of the 20th century, the word entered the English language in many different contexts. However, most uses were politically and professionally related and were often used between political opponents and people debating everything from a senate bill to vote harvesting.
Pejorative is almost exclusively to ascribe meaning to a largely negative word or phrase. Although historical linguistics point to a slight change in contextual meaning, a phenomenon known as a semantic drift, the overall purpose has remained relatively similar. Today, the word is used to describe a racial slur or name slur against ethnic groups.
Where Is the Word Pejorative Used?
The American heritage promotes freedom of speech, which opens the doors for many pejoratives. In the modern world, some of the most common places to see pejorative words are in highly unmoderated places, such as social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit.
While the very word is not used too commonly, examples of pejoratives are prevalent across websites like those. People will often have the courage to use these phrases when their true self is hidden, and there is no consequence for using a word or phrase that they might not use when face to face with someone.
When a common word is used negatively or debased, it is commonly seen as a pejorative. For example, the word rhetoric is frequently used derogatorily, even if its actual meaning isn’t genuinely negative.
However, some words that used to be pejorative can undergo amelioration or melioration, which means that they receive positive or neutral connotations. This can be seen in the words “punk” and “dude,” which used to be derogatory but have since acquired a conversational meaning.
Pejoratives are also commonly seen within the context of political or historical situations. For example, the nickname “Obama Phone” was a pejorative against the Obama administration.
Another historical pejorative is found in the origins of the word ham. Professional radio operators used the term “ham-fisted” to describe amateurs with limited morse-code skills.
Example Sentences That Use the Word pejorative
Here are some example sentences that will use the word pejorative. Seeing the term in use is one of the best ways to understand the English language at large and expand your vocabulary!
- The protestors outside the polling place were holding signs with pejoratives and insults written all over them.
- I was on Facebook the other day and saw my friend’s great aunt posting incredibly pejorative comments about the latest happenings amongst the people in Hollywood.
- At Princeton University, the moderators of debates try to keep pejoratives to a minimum.
- My friends said that the phrase vote harvesting was a pejorative for picking up another person’s absentee ballot, so I stopped using it.
- Mr. Ling said that Mr. Princeling was spewing pejoratives at him every time he took a shortcut through his lawn, so he decided to take a different route.
- I’ve recently decided to stop using such pejorative phrases every time I disagree with someone, and it’s made my entire life a million times better.
- It’s crazy how many pejoratives you find when you simply search the president’s name on Twitter.
Conclusion
The word pejorative is one of the most expressive words in the English language. It can allow you to understand the meanings of words with as much clarity and decisive meaning as possible.
If you want to incorporate this word into your own speech, don’t be afraid to use it anytime a situation or context that would benefit from it arises! Just don’t use an actual pejorative while you do so!
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