to put a slight upon
- phrasal verb
- Offensive
:
menospreciar
- He put a slight upon her achievements by not acknowledging her hard work.
Examples
-
By refusing to attend the meeting, he really put a slight upon his colleagues.
-
The rude comments from the speaker put a slight upon the entire audience.
-
Are there not some nowadays who put a slight upon the persons of the aged, that is, who not only refuse to pay them due respect, but actually discover contempt by laughing them to scorn and seeking to move others to do so too?
Academic text (1994)
Synonyms
543
2.1
To say or do something rude to someone
115
3.5
To show a lack of respect for someone
55
4.9
To make someone feel unimportant by saying bad things about them
53
6.8
To make someone feel less respected or important
45
5.0
To make someone or something seem not important
12
6.1
Treat someone as unimportant or ignore them
5
7.1
To insult someone openly or show no respect
1
8.4
Say or do things that make someone seem less respected
Antonyms
How Respectful
∞
1.0
- Offensive
- Offensive
313
1.3
28
7.7
- Offensive
414
6.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
If a learner knows 'put' (to place), 'slight' (a disrespectful remark or insult) and 'upon' (on/onto), they can compose the meaning as 'to place an insult on someone' without prior exposure. The structure is transparently compositional (put + a slight + upon = to insult), so despite being somewhat formal/dated, the sense is derivable from the parts.
Etymology
The phrase put a slight upon comes from using slight as a noun meaning a small insult. The image is like putting that small insult onto someone, so the phrase came to mean 'to show disrespect'.