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TOEIC Link Part 5: depreciate versus deprecate

Depreciate means to fall in value over time, the way equipment or currency does. Deprecate means to express disapproval of something, or in tech to mark a feature as outdated. They sound alike but carry very different meanings, and Part 5 rewards knowing which one fits a business sentence.

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TOEIC Link Part 5: depreciate versus deprecate

Depreciate and deprecate are separated by a single vowel, but they belong to completely different worlds. Depreciate is about value going down — assets, equipment, and currencies depreciate. Deprecate is about disapproval — you deprecate an idea you think is unwise, and in software a feature is deprecated when it is being phased out. TOEIC Part 5 loves pairs like this because the sentence context, not the spelling, tells you which is right. For another finance-flavored pair, see economic versus economical.

The core rule: lose value versus disapprove

  • depreciate (verb) = to decrease in value over time, or to lower the value of something: Company vehicles depreciate by about fifteen percent a year. / A weaker yen depreciates against the dollar.
  • deprecate (verb) = to express disapproval of, belittle, or — in technology — formally mark as outdated: The board deprecated the proposal as too risky. / The old API was deprecated in the latest release.

A memory hook: depreciate shares its middle with price and appreciate — all about worth and value. Deprecate has no price inside; think of it as putting something down, the way you deprecate an idea.

How to read the slot

The subject and surrounding nouns usually decide it.

  • depreciate pairs with money, assets, and physical goods: equipment depreciates, the currency depreciated, the building has depreciated. If the sentence is about value falling, choose depreciate.
  • deprecate pairs with ideas, behavior, proposals, or software features: critics deprecated the plan, the function is deprecated, she deprecated her own achievement. If the sentence is about disapproval or phasing out, choose deprecate.

So the fastest test: is something worth less, or is someone expressing disapproval? Worth less is depreciate; disapproval is deprecate.

Common Part 5 traps

  • Anything about assets, currency, or equipment is depreciate. Words like value, rate, asset, machinery, and exchange nearby signal money going down. Write depreciate.
  • "self-(blank)" is deprecate. Self-deprecating humor means making fun of yourself — never self-depreciating. This is a frequent trap.
  • Software and feature contexts take deprecate. The endpoint will be deprecated next quarter. A feature loses official support; it does not lose monetary value.
  • Watch the accounting noun. The noun form of depreciate is depreciation, a standard accounting term. There is no common noun "deprecation" in business writing outside of tech.

Quick check

Decide whether the slot is about value falling (depreciate) or disapproval / phasing out (deprecate), then choose.

  1. Laptops typically (blank) to half their purchase price within two years.
  2. The committee (blank) the merger as poorly timed.
  3. After the rate cut, the local currency began to (blank).
  4. The vendor announced that the legacy login method would be (blank) in March.

Answers: 1. depreciate (value falling) 2. deprecated (disapproval) 3. depreciate (currency value) 4. deprecated (feature phased out).

The takeaway

Let the subject decide: if the sentence is about value dropping — equipment, currency, or assets — write depreciate, the word that hides price inside it; if it is about disapproval or phasing out — a proposal, a habit, or a software feature — write deprecate. Value down versus thumbs down. For more pairs where context does the work, see than versus then and perspective versus prospective.