MEANING
A person who criticizes or belittles someone or something, often dismissively or unfairly.
Use it for
describing opponents who disparage a proposal; contrasting hostile criticism with careful evaluation; identifying a dismissive stance toward a theory or authorMarks a disparaging critic rather than treating all disagreement as hostile. Academic functions: Argumentation, Analysis / Interpretation.
Words that belong together
- detractors of the theory
- detractors argue that
- answer one’s detractors
On the page
The policy’s detractors describe it as symbolic, whereas its defenders emphasize the institutional changes it introduced.
The essay distinguishes the novelist’s detractors from critics who identify weaknesses without dismissing the work.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- detractor
Usage notes
Count noun: detractor, detractors; detractors of a person, policy, or theory. Register: formal. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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