What does depreciated mean?
"Depreciated" is the past tense and past participle of the verb "depreciate," meaning to fall in value over time or to be written down on the books. In accounting and finance it is a workhorse term: assets such as vehicles, machinery, and buildings are said to have depreciated as they age and wear out, and tax rules often allow businesses to deduct this loss in value. A less common but long-established sense means to belittle or speak of something as being of little worth. The word should not be confused with "deprecated," which means disapproved of or marked as obsolete — a distinction that matters especially in software documentation, where the two are routinely swapped in error. Derived from Latin roots relating to price and value, "depreciated" carries a neutral, technical tone in its financial sense and remains essential vocabulary for anyone dealing with assets, accounting, or economics.
Reduced in value over time, especially through wear and age; or belittled and represented as being of little worth.
"The equipment had depreciated by twenty percent in its first year."
In accounting, an asset that has exhausted its allowable write-downs is called fully depreciated.
(Of an asset or currency) having a reduced or written-down value.
"The firm sold off its depreciated fleet at auction."
Chiefly used in financial and technical registers; the computing sense belongs to "deprecated," not this word.
In software, writing "depreciated" instead of "deprecated" is such a common typo that it has become a running joke among programmers.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of depreciated
"Depreciated" derives from the verb "depreciate," which entered English from the Latin "depretiatus," the past participle of "depretiare," meaning to lower the price of. This combines the prefix "de-" (down) with "pretium" (price), the same Latin root that gives us "price," "precious," "appreciate," and "praise." The verb was established in English by the early 17th century, initially carrying both the sense of lowering value and of disparaging something in words.
Related word forms
How depreciated is actually used
The financial sense is standard in accounting and taxation contexts, where an asset that has been fully written off is described as fully depreciated. The older sense of "belittled" survives mainly in formal writing. In computing contexts, "depreciated" is usually an error for "deprecated."
Easily confused with depreciated
"Deprecated" means disapproved of or, in computing, marked as obsolete and discouraged from use, while "depreciated" means having declined in monetary value — the two are frequently mixed up in technical writing.