The use of the term denigrate means to defame someone. In this way, you can symbolize defame your reputation, or morals before society.
Therefore, to denigrate someone's image would be to tarnish that person's image. Generally speaking, the word is used when serious accusations are made against someone.
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Examples: "Bianca is trying to tarnish Rafael's image with this accusation"
“Lucas’ image was denigrated after what Maurício told us”
One of the possible literal meanings for the word to denigrate would be “to make black”, or to reduce the transparency of something, to make it dark, to darken. Therefore, the “darkness” would be something negative.
Thus, recently, due to the advancement of social movements, many people have come to consider the word harmful and prejudiced, thus rethinking its use.
The terms “pejorative”, “dishonor” and “defame” are options for word substitutions.
The act of defaming someone is characterized as a crime in our country. People who commit it can be prosecuted for moral damages, being punishable by fines and imprisonment.