Synonyms for denigrate

Most common

1. Disparage — to criticize so as to besmirch; traduce, disparage or defame

2. Belittle — to treat as worthless; belittle, degrade or disparage

3. Blackwash — to blacken

v. 1
To criticize so as to besmirch; traduce, disparage or defame.
v. 2
To treat as worthless; belittle, degrade or disparage.
You have no right to denigrate people and things that you have no personal experience with.
v. 3
To blacken.

Past participle: denigrated
e.g. denigrated → disparaged, besmirched, defamed, vilified…

sully I wouldn't want to sully your good name.
disparage We didn't mean to disparage our contenders.
defame Sami didn't want to defame anyone.
besmirch That news will besmirch his reputation for honesty.
belittle Why do you have to belittle people all the time?
trivialize While I don't want to trivialize your concerns, is all of this really necessary?

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

4 letters: foul¹, stab¹, blot¹
5 letters: black¹, smear¹, libel², sully²
6 letters: darken², malign², defame², vilify³, revile²
7 letters: degrade², tarnish², blacken², nigrify
8 letters: minimize³, minimise, belittle³, downplay², besmirch, derogate, banalize, banalise, forswart
9 letters: patronize³, disparage³, disrepute³, patronise, deprecate³, dispraise, blackwash, infuscate
10 letters: depreciate⁴, trivialize⁴, trivialise
11 letters: subordinate⁴, assassinate⁴
13 letters: underestimate⁵

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (libel² = 2 syllables).