Both Uses of
belittle
in
A Death in the Family
- sleep; and Tom pulled his head back through the ceiling and looked down at him with those empty blue eyes and said, "That's all right, Mr. Ralph, and suddenly Ralph realized that he had no intention of sleeping and would be there alone, not sleeping a wink, just ready in case he was needed; and that Tom had seen his malice, his desire to belittle him, and had belittled him instead, before his mother and his wife and his dying father.†
Chpt 6
- his head back through the ceiling and looked down at him with those empty blue eyes and said, "That's all right, Mr. Ralph, and suddenly Ralph realized that he had no intention of sleeping and would be there alone, not sleeping a wink, just ready in case he was needed; and that Tom had seen his malice, his desire to belittle him, and had belittled him instead, before his mother and his wife and his dying father.†
Chpt 6 *belittled = made someone or something seem less important
Definition:
to make someone or something seem unimportant