[dep.re.cate] vt -cat.ed ; -cat.ing [L deprecatus, pp. of deprecari to avert by prayer, fr. de- + precari to pray--more at pray] (1628) 1 a archaic: to pray against (as an evil) b: to seek to avert "~ the wrath ... of the Roman people --Tobias Smollett"
2: to express disapproval of 3 a: play down: make little of "speaks five languages ... but ~s this facility --Time" b: belittle, disparage "the most reluctantly admired and least easily deprecated of ... novelists --New Yorker" -- dep.re.cat.ing.ly adv -- dep.re.ca.tion n