debased

American  

[dih-beyst] / dɪˈbeɪst /

adjective

1. lowered in quality, character, or value.

   Part of the reason for the rise in commodities and oil is the debased dollar.

   Even in the debased conditions of wartime, people had dreams of a beautiful future.

2. lowered in rank, dignity, or significance.

   In the 1800s, many people considered show business to be a debased profession.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of debase.

Other Word Forms

• debasedness
  noun
• undebased
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of debased

debase ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

Whereas the European gothic, he concludes, was “an enlightened attack on a debased ruling class or entrenched superstition,” its American version emerged as “a Calvinist exposé of natural human corruption.”

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

The very concepts of intellectualism, and of objective knowledge itself, have been debased by a kind of Gresham’s Law, with the bad driving out the good.

From Salon • Apr. 19, 2026

Scottish National Party MP John Nicolson said the post was "nauseating" and that it "cheapened and debased" politics.

From BBC • Apr. 9, 2023

The burden of being publicly debased felt a tiny bit lighter because she understood how humiliated I felt.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 21, 2022

Everest, the purists sniffed, had been debased and profaned.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer