abasement
Americannoun
-
the state or condition of having been reduced in rank, office, reputation, or estimation; degradation.
Her self-respect, even in abasement, has kept her struggling upward.
We must look closely at what is happening to education in our country and challenge its abasement.
-
the act of reducing, humbling, or degrading someone or something.
The 1801 agreement led to the abasement of Austria and Prussia and the division of Europe between two great powers, France and Russia.
Etymology
Origin of abasement
Explanation
Abasement means humiliation or disgrace. Losing an important football game because of several stupid mistakes might result in abasement for the whole team. The noun abasement is good for describing the feeling of shame or disgrace that overcomes people who do something embarrassing or dishonorable. A political scandal or huge election loss can result in abasement for an entire party, and tripping and falling in the middle school cafeteria can cause a thirteen year-old's abasement. Abasement and its related verb, abase, come from an Old French root, abaissier, "diminish, or make lower in value or status."
Vocabulary lists containing abasement
A Thousand Splendid Suns
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Beowulf
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The Grapes of Wrath
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In a pathetic display of learned helplessness, California business leaders have collaborated in their own abasement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
Or by observing the climate of denunciation and abasement in various cultural spaces, from academic journals to law schools to the publishing industry.
From New York Times ● Aug. 7, 2021
Look through the opening, and you will find Saar rescuing the black female figure from her destiny of abasement.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 24, 2019
A lesser songwriter would either paint the couple in a false glow of romance or wallow in the tawdry abasement.
From Slate ● Aug. 8, 2019
Clyde’s fiendish mind has not stopped at so simple an abasement, however.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
