discreditverb/dɪsˈkɹɛd.ɪt/

• 1

  To harm the good reputation of (a person).

  • The candidate tried to discredit his opponent.
• 2

  To cause (an idea or piece of evidence) to seem false or unreliable.

  • The evidence would tend to discredit such a theory.
  • Many of our correspondents participated in the discussion, and the upshot was that the alleged record was discredited.

discreditnoun/dɪsˈkɹɛd.ɪt/

• 1

  Discrediting or disbelieving.

  • Mr. Burton disbelieves it, and has brought sufficient reasons for his discredit of so improbable a story.
  • It would have been too serious a task to verify his numerous citations in our very careful reading for the present notice; but we are bound to say that, observing his discredit of some of the passages which he quotes from a contemporary American writer, and struck ourselves with the apparent inexactness of the statements in teste extracts (pp. 579, 616, 647), we were led to compare his citations, and, to our surprise, we find them incorrect and even garbled, and in one place where he had queried (thus (?)) the fact, we were surprised to find the doubt pertained to one of his own interpolations in the extracts.
• 2

  A person or thing that causes harm to a reputation, as of a person, family, or institution.

  • […] that now and then a young man of that profession did actually appear among us, who was not a discredit to his country.
  • I felt at the time that to pass it so hastily would be a discredit to Parliament, as custodian of the liberties of the people of this country. I felt, too, that it would be a discredit to the colony, and a discredit, a deep discredit, to the Government
• 3

  The state of being discredited or disbelieved.

  • Later accounts have brought the story into discredit.
• 4

  A degree of dishonour or disesteem; ill repute; reproach.

  • It is the duty of every Christian to be concerned for the reputation or discredit his life may bring on his profession.
  • It is to David Brill's discredit that he allowed himself — a long-time activist in the gay community and a paid staff writer for a gay liberation newspaper — to use his extensive news sources and a solid standing in the community to participate in what appears to be at this time a well-organized police entrapment of a gay man whom many are eager to indict and imprison.