unflatter en · VERB
Etymology
From un- + flatter.
Meanings
-
(transitive) To show or display in a bad light; to portray unfavorably.
Mainstream media “unflatters” the demos and its rulers daily.
2018, Marlene K. Sokolon, Travis D. Smith, Flattering the Demos: Fiction and Democratic Education, →ISBN, page 137:He switched promptly from the escapist fantasy of young-white-male-orientated comic books to the cauterizing realism of Richard Wright, whose fiction unflatters the United States, condemning it as dehumanizing and coercively deathly for blacks (JanMohamed 2005).
2008, Christopher N. Okonkwo, A Spirit of Dialogue:Well, sith thy truth unflatters me, I will believe it truth.
1918, Bernard Edward Joseph Capes, Where England Sets Her Feet: A Romance, page 229:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| unflattering | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| unflatters | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| unflattered | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| unflattered | Tense=Past | lexicographic |
Antonyms
puff · soothe · brush up to · gloze · flatter · palaver · preen · collogue · speak well of · make fair weather · jolly · lay it on thick · glaver · stroke · flatter · tickle the ear · flatterize
Synonyms
sully · stain · malign · trash-talk · vilipend · badmouth · forgab · bewray · smirch · blacken · monsterize · shit-talk · lampoon · slag · denigrate · spot · stab · tarnish · wrong · blur · disparage · torch · dirty · talk trash · besmear · talk shite · scandal · backbite · blame · diss · defame · chat shit · blot · smear · disrepute · muddy · slander · calumniate · talk shit · chat shite · vilify · reproach · befoul · libel · assassinate · diss · speak ill of · besmirch · depreciate · villainize · asperse · demonize · denigrate · foul · detract · blemish · blaze · discredit · drag through the mud · belibel · unflatter · cloud · besmirch · forspeak · deprave · infamize · revile · spatter · traduce · calumny · disgrace