Detract

detract
    v 1: take away a part from; diminish; "His bad manners detract
         from his good character" [syn: {take away}, {detract}]
    

Detract \De*tract"\, v. i.
   To take away a part or something, especially from one's
   credit; to lessen reputation; to derogate; to defame; --
   often with from.
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         It has been the fashion to detract both from the moral
         and literary character of Cicero.        --V. Knox.
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Detract \De*tract"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Detracted}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Detracting}.] [L. detractus, p. p. of detrahere to
   detract; de + trahere to draw: cf. F. d['e]tracter. See
   {Trace}.]
   1. To take away; to withdraw.
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            Detract much from the view of the without. --Sir H.
                                                  Wotton.
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   2. To take credit or reputation from; to defame.
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            That calumnious critic . . .
            Detracting what laboriously we do.    --Drayton.

   Syn: To derogate; decry; disparage; depreciate; asperse;
        vilify; defame; traduce. See {Decry}.
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43 Moby Thesaurus words for "detract":
      abate, abrade, abstract, bate, beguile, call away, curtail,
      decrease, deduct, depreciate, derogate, detract attention,
      detract from, diminish, disparage, distract, divert,
      divert the mind, drain, eat away, erode, extract, file away,
      impair, leach, lessen, purify, reduce, refine, remove, retrench,
      rub away, shorten, subduct, subtract, take away, take away from,
      take from, thin, thin out, wear away, weed, withdraw