The word demerit is a verb that means that someone demerits another person, thing or action. Its use occurs mainly in Latin America, more precisely in countries such as Mexico, Colombia or Peru and others in Central America.
There are experts who point out that it is originally from Yucatec Spanish, that is, the one that was formed in the Yucatan peninsula, present-day Mexico. Its first appearance in the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy was recent, in 1992; and this entity defines "demerit" as "tarnish" or "demerit."
Origin and meaning
This transitive verb is used mainly to refer to speaking to the detriment or ill of a person, their work or their results and to replace figures such as "tarnish" or "dirty".
It is important to note that the correct way to say and write it is to "demerit" and not "demerit." This is a common mistake, since generally the prefix "des" indicates negation or reversal of the meaning of what follows.
This prefix can be shortened to "of" in the same sense, meaning deprivation or reversal of the meaning of the subsequent word. The funny thing is that the RAE in other cases accepts both ways of saying or writing it, but not in "demeriting."
For its part, the word "demerit" means that something lacks merit or it is an action by which something or someone is demerited. Although they are similar, the action of "demerit" is more damaging and lacking in truth than demerit. That is to say, that a person demerits in his desire to demerit (sometimes just because), and instead a demerit object is something that really lacks all kinds of value to be recognized.
Unlike 'demerit', 'demerit' comes from the Latin demeritus, with 'de' meaning 'from top to bottom', and meritus as 'deserved'.
Synonyms
Some words similar to "demerit" are, "discredit", "undermine", "belittle", "debase", "ignore", "depreciate", "dirty", "undermine", "demean", "diminish", " harm "," deteriorate "," dishonor ", or" offend ".
Antonyms
On the other hand, words that mean the opposite are "to merit", "to praise", "to praise", "to acknowledge", "to reward", "to flatter", "to congratulate", "to congratulate", "to reward", "to increase", or "enlarge."
Usage examples
- "Despite all the effort I made, my boss detracted from my work."
- "Many people demerit those who achieve second place."
- "I demerit any work that has phrases stolen from elsewhere."
- «She demerits my plate, even knowing that I can't cook».
- "Before I demerited the people who worked as waitresses."
- «I will demerit your project because I know you have stolen someone else's idea».
- "The court has demerited my complaint considering it to be a lack of evidence."
- "If I were you, I would detract from his efforts after what he did to you."
- «My boss told me: 'demerit that job'».
- «If she hadn't demerited her abilities, today she would be working with us».
- "That behavior detracts from his entire career."
- «We must not demerit the rival who also train to win».
- "Do not detract from the championship won, the team also defeated the powerful."
- "The demerit campaign against him is notorious."
- «You are demeriting everything I did!».
- «The demerit of the victory of the local team is total since it only defeated its weak adversary by 1 to 0».
References
- Demerit. (2019). Royal Spanish Academy. Recovered from: dle.rae.es
- Juan Domingo Argüelles. "The bad tongues: Barbarisms, riots, words, redundancies." Recovered from: books.google.it
- Jesús Amaro Gambio. (1999). «Vocabulary of Uyaeism in the culture of Yucatan». Recovered from: books.google.it