degrade
degrade Lexical Profile
degrade Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To treat or regard someone with contempt or disrespect, causing a loss of dignity or self-respect.
"Publicly shaming employees for minor mistakes only serves to degrade them and lower workplace morale."
To lower the quality, character, or condition of something; to cause to deteriorate.
"Unregulated industrial runoff continues to degrade the water quality of the surrounding wetlands."
To break down or decompose chemically or biologically into simpler substances (or to cause a substance to do so).
"Certain plastics take ratusan of years to degrade when exposed to natural sunlight and moisture."
To reduce someone to a lower rank, degree, or official status.
"Following the court-martial, the tribunal voted to degrade the officer to the rank of private."
• Rhymes for degrade
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Old French degrader, from Late Latin degradare ('to reduce in rank'), formed from Latin de- ('down') and gradus ('step, rank, or degree').