"trivializing" and "Undermining"?

[patsy.ath]

What is the difference between using "trivializing" and "undermining"?
Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forum, patsy, and well done for giving your thread a great title (some seasoned posters can't get the hang of this).

We like you to show some evidence that you have tried to find out for yourself by looking up the words in an online dictionary such as OneLook Dictionary Search and telling us what you don't understand about the definitions.

Try using these words in sentences and we'll comment on them.

Rover

 

[BobSmith]

This is a great question too, because the difference is subtle and interesting. I am looking forward to reading the comments

 

[patsy.ath]

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.

 

[patsy.ath]

Does undermining imply making fun of/ mocking while trivializing does't have such implication?​

 

[Rover_KE]

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.

I see what you mean.

I've been looking at the Fraze.It entries for these words and only in a few cases can they be interchanged.

I don't think I can be of more help.

Rover

 

[BobSmith]

Does undermining imply making fun of/ mocking while trivializing does't have such implication?

[AmE - not a teacher]

I don't think either necessarily include mocking. To me, to trivialize means to make lesser of value or importance. To undermine is similar, but it includes a measure of sabotage.

 

[Raymott]

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.

These words are completely different.
If a husband is trivializing his wife's work, he is treating it as being less important than it is. However, this has no direct effect on her work.

If a husband is undermining his wife's work, he is directly working against her and making her work less effective.​

The first is simply an attitude; the second is an action.

 

[Tdol]

And if you undermine something, it's because you see it as a problem or threat worth responding too, so you take it seriously and see the importance of it.

 

[patsy.ath]

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]Thank you for the insightful explanation![/FONT]

 

[BobK]

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]Thank you for the insightful explanation![/FONT]

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).

b