image of deprecation

[Quantz]

Context is British politics in the 1940's.

"After Munich, when he met Chamberlain, he looked the picture of shocked deprecation".

Après Munich, quand il rencontra Chamberlain, celui-ci lui parut l'image même de l'hébétude et de l'avilissement".

Je suis un peu trop "littéraire".

 

[snarkhunter]

Bonjour,

Pour ma part, je comprendrais davantage l'expression comme décrivant une "désapprobation outrée". Attendons d'autres avis...

 

[Quantz]

I don't think so : to make a long story short, after that, Chamberlain is lengthily defending himself, a bit disheartened. "Deprecation" is obscure to me.

 

[Kelly B]

I rarely see it without self-, in which case it means autoautodénigrement/autodérision, or sometimes milder, closer to humilité - I wonder whether that's meant to be implied here, given your doubts.