Different meanings of 加減

Question

I know 加減 has a number of meaning, and I'm having trouble understanding it in several sentences; last one I heard is from RDG episode 7 (all said by the same character, I keep the separation in the subtitles so I won't add punctuation):

私が相楽くんを巻き込んだんだ

思わずそう言ったらそれが真相だったことに気がついた

期待していると思いたくなくて‌

真響さんには相楽くんを貶し加減に言っていたことも‌

The word per se means a degree of something, adjusting something by adding or removing, doing something in moderation; for example, いい加減にしろ is usually translated as "Stop it", I think from a more literal meaning of "Do it in a good degree" (i.e., not too much, so now you are exaggerating and have to stop).

But how should I read it in the sentence above? That the character is speaking ill of the other one to a certain degree and/or in an acceptable manners sounds odd. Maybe like いい加減にしろ means that they are past the acceptable limit? If so, I don't really understand the sentence construction, though.

Answer 1

It is still the degree, but 大辞泉 has the following definition:

［接尾］動詞の連用形や状態を表す名詞に付く。

２ そのような傾向、そのような気味である、の意を表す。「うつむき―」

The usage means: with such a tendency/inclination, which I think derives from with a degree of something.

Practically, it works as a weakening ("just a tendency, not fully so"), so 貶{けな}し加減に言っていた means kind of/slightly spoke ill of.

Answer 2

I could be wrong, and I'm not really sure of the context, but I would interpret 「真響さんには相楽くんを貶し加減に言っていた」as basically saying:

"was saying things to Mayura that amounted to disrespecting Sagara."

That is, what was being said reached the level of being disrespectful (even if possibly that wasn't the intent).