Sentence:  The lady owner came out of the store, snatched the ticket from the windscreen, flung it to the ground and screamed: ‘You silly little man!' at the warden, who was completing his entry of the offence in his book. He was of average height, but the rich invariably <WSD>diminutize</WSD> those who upset them. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To make (someone or something) appear smaller ("often in a figurative sense").