bastardize

American  

[bas-ter-dahyz] / ˈbæs tərˌdaɪz /

especially British, bastardise

verb (used with object)

bastardized, bastardizing

1. to lower in condition or worth; debase.

   hybrid works that neither preserve nor bastardize existing art forms.

2. to declare or prove (someone) to be a bastard.

3. Australian. to harass or humiliate as part of initiation into a college or regiment.

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verb (used without object)

bastardized, bastardizing

1. to become debased.

bastardize British  

/ ˈbɑːstəˌdaɪz, ˈbæs- /

verb

1. to debase; corrupt

2. archaic to declare illegitimate

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Other Word Forms

• bastardization
  noun
• unbastardized
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of bastardize

First recorded in 1580–90; bastard + -ize

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bastardize bastardized bastardizing

It always finds a way to reinvent itself — to become more daring, to fuse and bastardize.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

“People were up in arms about how you could bastardize the written word, and do it on this screen, and not have the tactile feeling of the page and the leather-bound book,” he recalled.

From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2022

But the posts I'm most drawn to feature pizza — the practically universal American comfort food that we love to bastardize.

From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2022

“If we bastardize Congress, we’re also bastardizing our country,” Cayetano said in his video message.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 13, 2020

The law is so indulgent as not to bastardize the child, if born, though not begotten, in lawful wedlock.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Noah Webster

I was just picturing them both hating how I bastardized their song.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

Or wait, maybe it’s just “about memory — and bastardized versions of memory,” as Brianna Zigler writes in Entertainment Weekly.

From Salon ● Jun. 8, 2026

“My fear is that what was meant for good, in terms of pancreas donation, is being bastardized for self-preservation” by organ procurement organizations, he said in an interview.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 20, 2023

“Big Ag has co-opted and bastardized every one of our messages,” he said.

From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2021

"Really?" the lover said, although Yolanda had already filled him in on her family and her bastardized name—Yo, Joe, Yoyo.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez

No one finished out 2025 talking about Disney bastardizing everyone’s favorite precocious blue alien, but “Materialists” was still driving conversations and reactions well through the end of the year.

From Salon ● Jan. 6, 2026

Patti Serrelli, the owner of the longtime Italian-beef purveyor Serrelli’s Finer Foods, had a harsher take on these adaptations: “They are kind of bastardizing the original recipe.”

From New York Times ● Dec. 27, 2021

“I think it is absolutely ludicrous that two countries so blessed with such a wonderful product should be going to court and bastardizing the name manuka,” he said.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 2, 2019

“I think it’s a little bastardizing for artists to use the country industry for gain and not because they believe in what it should stand for,” Johnson said.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 10, 2019

The murder therefore was to be fixed on Richard the Third, who was to be supposed to have usurped the throne, by murdering, and not, as was really the case, by bastardizing his nephews.

From Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard the Third by Horace Walpole