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A聽warning popped up on my computer recently, a message that I needed to uninstall the Flash Player plug-in because Adobe had deprecated it. I imagined a bunch of programmers yelling at a computer, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e no good, Flash!鈥� 鈥淗TML5 runs rings around you!鈥� I assumed deprecate meant 鈥渢o belittle,鈥� so 础诲辞产别鈥檚 usage seemed wrong. As it turns out, I am far from the first person to have been baffled by this word.

Today, deprecate most often appears in its reflexive adjectival form, self-deprecating: 鈥渢ending or serving to disparage or undervalue oneself,鈥� according to Merriam-Webster. We might make a self-deprecating comment in response to praise.

This usage is relatively new, however. Before 1950 or so, the more common term was self-depreciating. This was also the proper term, according to language mavens. In 鈥淕arner鈥檚 Modern English Usage,鈥� linguist Bryan Garner draws a firm distinction between deprecate (鈥渢o disapprove earnestly鈥�) and depreciate (鈥渢o belittle, disparage鈥�). If 鈥渉er mother deprecated her choice of husband,鈥� Mom thoroughly disapproved of the guy; if 鈥渟he depreciated him at every opportunity,鈥� she talked smack about him at every turn. Thus, according to Mr. Garner, self-deprecating 鈥渋s, literally speaking, a virtual impossibility.鈥� Even he admits, though, that it is here to stay, since it鈥檚 far more common than self-depreciating.

Depreciate is changing too, and today is rarely encountered outside of financial contexts. It means 鈥渢o fall in value鈥� 鈥� 鈥淪ell your GameStop stock before it depreciates!鈥� 鈥� or to claim tax deductions 鈥渇or the wear and tear, deterioration, or obsolescence鈥� of cars, real estate, and so on, according to the IRS.

础诲辞产别鈥檚 deprecation of Flash Player is actually closer to the term鈥檚 original definition, then, implying a wholehearted disavowal. Just as depreciate has found a niche in finance, deprecate has become a term of art in the software world. When programmers update their code, or companies release new applications, they often deprecate outdated features or products rather than deleting them immediately, which serves as notice that they will stop making updates.聽

Are some of these uses more correct than others? It seems they are all fine. If you want to say self-depreciating, people might think you鈥檙e talking about your stocks, but it鈥檚 not incorrect. Self-deprecating was historically incorrect, but is now the default.聽

If you would like to preserve the original distinction and want a mnemonic, etymology may help. Deprecate comes from the Latin de- + precari (鈥渢o pray away鈥�). When you deprecate something, you鈥檇 like it gone, especially if it鈥檚 a bug-prone software plug-in.聽