v., -grad·ed, -grad·ing, -grades. v.tr.
- To reduce in grade, rank, or status; demote.
- To lower in dignity; dishonor or disgrace: a scandal that degraded the participants.
- To lower in moral or intellectual character; debase.
- To reduce in worth or value: degrade a currency.
- To impair in physical structure or function.
- Geology. To lower or wear by erosion or weathering.
- To cause (an organic compound) to undergo degradation.
- To fall below a normal state; deteriorate.
- To undergo degradation; decompose: a chemical that degrades rapidly.
[Middle English degraden, from Old French degrader, from Late Latin dēgradāre : Latin dē-, de- + Latin gradus, step.]
degrader de·grad'er n.SYNONYMS degrade, abase, debase, demean, humble, humiliate. These verbs mean to deprive of self-esteem or self-worth. Degrade implies reduction to a state of shame or disgrace: "If I pitied you for crying ... you should spurn such pity-=@ellipsis4=- Rise, and don't degrade yourself into an abject reptile!" (Emily Brontë). Abase refers principally to loss of rank or prestige: "Meg pardoned him, and Mrs. March's grave face relaxed . . . when she heard him declare that he would ... abase himself like a worm before the injured damsel" (Louisa May Alcott). Debase implies reduction in quality or value: "debasing the moral currency" (George Eliot). Demean suggests lowering in social position: "It puts him where he can make the advances without demeaning himself" (William Dean Howells). Humble can refer to lowering in rank or, more often, to reducing in pride: dreamed of humbling his opponent. To humiliate is to subject to loss of self-respect or dignity: a defeat that humiliated both army and nation. See also synonyms at demote.
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