“With the greatest respect” is generally used when someone is about to insult you, but they hope that it won’t get you too angry. It actually means “with no respect at all”, and is just an attempt to diffuse the insult that will follow. This expression can also be used upwardly.

What do they mean by "diffuse" and "upwardly"?

Question

“With the greatest respect” is generally used when someone is about to insult you, but they hope that it won’t get you too angry. It actually means “with no respect at all”, and is just an attempt to diffuse the insult that will follow. This expression can also be used upwardly.

What do they mean by "diffuse" and "upwardly"?

Answer

Diffuse (in this context) = lessen, limit, reduce, make less clear/ less well defined...

I have no idea what 'upwardly' means here. I think the words should be 'positively'

With all due respect (or: with the greatest respect) to the person who wrote this text, I disagree. I do not think this expression is generally used as a precursor to an insult, but rather to introduce a different opinion or a disagreement. 😉

Answer

To diffuse something is to make it less noticeable or weaker. In this situation, it attempts to lighten the impact of the insult.

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