To cry down; speak disparagingly of; censure as faulty or worthless; clamor against: as, to decry a poem.
To deprive of credit officially.
Synonyms Decry, Depreciate, Detract from, Derogate from, Disparage, run down, discredit. These words agree in expressing an effort to lower the esteem in which a person or thing is held. If the effort is unjust, the injustice is not so conspicuous as in the words compared under asperse. Decry, to cry down, clamor against, implies activity and publicity; it is hardly applicable to persons. Depreciate, primarily to lower the value of, is less forcible than decry, and may apply to persons. Detract from and derogate from have almost precisely the same meaning—to take from or diminish repute, as by caviling, ascribing success to accident, good conduct to low motives, etc. Disparage, to make a thing unequal to what it was in repute; under-rate. The last four need not have a personal subject: as, it would derogate very much from his standing; it would disparage him in public estimation if it were known.