vilipend

From Middle English vilipenden, from Old French vilipender, from Latin vilipendō, from vīlis (“worthless”) + pendō (“to consider, weigh”).

IPA^(key): /ˈvɪləˌpɛnd/

vilipend (third-person singular simple present vilipends, present participle vilipending, simple past and past participle vilipended)

1. To despise.
2. To express a disparaging opinion of; to slander or vilify.
   • 1853, July 10. "Evil Birds", The Colonist (Nelson, New Zealand): page 4:

     But we desire, most unhesitatingly to condemn and vilipend a system of continual abuse, intended to fall upon the provincial Government, but in reality reaching and injuring the public at large.

   • 1917, O. W. Firkins, The Nation, The Nation Company, page 176:

     But, for all their feint of nonchalance, these young persons have no other task in life but to explain and extol their own conduct and to vilipend their critics and opponents.

• belittle
• derogate
• misprize