Faux feeling Something done to me
Belittled
Not a feeling: a thought about what someone did.
Also known as cheapened, degraded, demeaned, disparaged
‘I think you are making light of me or of what I have done.’
Why it’s not a feeling
Belittled says someone has made you smaller, treating you or your work as if it hardly counts. That is your reading of their attitude towards you, and an attitude lives in them, not in you. The sting itself usually has a plainer name: hurt, frustration, perhaps anger.
Feelings underneath
Needs
When these needs aren’t met
Saying it as a feeling
‘I feel belittled.’
When I told you about my promotion and you said, ‘Well, anyone could do that job’, I felt hurt and frustrated, because I need respect and to be seen.