I can think of two examples as follows:
If a husband is trivializing his wife's problem at work, he makes them seem less important than they really are.
If a husband is undermining his wife, he makes her feel less confident. His criticism is undermining her confidence.
To me, the two words both imply lessening the value of something or someone. I can't actually see the difference. But they don't seem to be synonymous either.
Does undermining imply making fun of/ mocking while trivializing does't have such implication?
These words are completely different.I can think of 2 examples as following.
If a husband is trivializing his wife's problem at work, he makes it seem less important than it really is.
If a husband is undermining his wife, he makes her feel less confident. His criticism is undermining her confidence.
To me, the two words both imply lessening the value of something or someone. I can't actually see the difference. But they don't seem to be synonymous either.
For a bit more insight -)) you might like to consider the origin of 'undermining' - making an explosion underneath an enemy fortification to weaken it: Mining (military) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (The Royal Engineers - a British arny regiment, are informally called 'The Sappers', and one use of the verb 'sap' - as in 'sap someone's strength' reflects the idea of undermining).[FONT=arial, sans-serif]Thank you for the insightful explanation![/FONT]