debauch
Americanverb (used with object)
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debauches,
present (3rd person singular)
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debauched,
past participle, past
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debauching
present participle
-
to corrupt by sensuality, intemperance, etc.; seduce.
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to corrupt or pervert; sully.
His honesty was debauched by the prospect of easy money.
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Archaic. to lead away, as from allegiance or duty.
verb (used without object)
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debauches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
debauched,
past participle, past
-
debauching
present participle
noun
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a period of wanton or sensual self-indulgence.
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an uninhibited spree or party; orgy.
a wild debauch.
verb
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(when tr, usually passive) to lead into a life of depraved self-indulgence
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(tr) to seduce (a woman)
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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debauchsimple
-
debauchessimple
-
have debauchedperfect
-
has debauchedperfect
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am debauchingprogressive
-
are debauchingprogressive
-
is debauchingprogressive
-
have been debauchingperfect progressive
-
has been debauchingperfect progressive
Past
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debauchedsimple
-
had debauchedperfect
-
was debauchingprogressive
-
were debauchingprogressive
-
had been debauchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of debauch
First recorded in 1585–95; from French débaucher “to entice away from duty, debauch,” Old French desbauchier “to disperse, scatter,” equivalent to des- dis- 1 + -bauchier, derivative of bauc, bauch beam (from Germanic; see balcony, balk; compare French ébaucher “to rough-hew”); hence, presumably, “to hew (beams),” becoming “to split, separate,” becoming “to separate from work or duty”
Explanation
Debauch means to destroy or corrupt someone's morals. Overnight fame and wealth might debauch a previously mild-mannered and altruistic actor. As a noun, debauch refers to a wild party characterized by excess. The old-fashioned meaning of debauch involved antiquated ideas about virtue and the idea that a person's "moral purity" could be corrupted. Today this word is mostly used when a person's integrity or principles are corrupted, often under the influence of money or power. You might say that artists debauch themselves when their designs show up on mass produced T-shirts. As a noun, debauch refers to an out-of-control party — in other words, a gathering at which one's morals might be corrupted.
Vocabulary lists containing debauch
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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.
See Examples For:
He can sketch a character lightly, with only a half turn and a flutter of his lashes, or debauch himself in orgies of gesture and expression.
From New York Times ● Nov. 21, 2022
“I did really debauch myself to achieve a visual at the time” is how he remembers it.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 15, 2016
We’ve not had a debasement of the currency, a debauch of the exchange rate, so those fears and warnings aren’t all that well founded.
From Forbes ● Feb. 13, 2015
Lastly, the Gabfest crew takes a look at Google’s new smartphone for your face, Google Glass: Will it extend our human powers or finally debauch them for good?
From Slate ● May 22, 2013
The music, the anthem of Saturday night debauch, filtered to them through the jail stones that now enveloped them, isolated them with Junior Palmer.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Inflation, of course, debauches a currency by reducing its purchasing power.
From Time Magazine Archive
Good ideas are kept out of circulation because they are concealed by highbrow language, whereas lowbrow journalism debauches American speech.
From Time Magazine Archive
Thus the devil thrives in proportion, is always ready to enrich the rich man with ruin, the wise man with folly, the beautiful woman with degradation, the kind, average man with debauches of savagery.
From Time Magazine Archive
Huston filmed Sodom dimly lit, and shied clear of the debauches of DeMille's epics.
From Time Magazine Archive
These lawless excursions often culminated in garbage-pail raids, debauches from which the young prodigals would sneak home, abashed with nausea.
From Sigurd Our Golden Collie and Other Comrades of the Road by Katharine Lee Bates
Firstman stars as Peter, a debauched millennial aging out of a New York scene that never cared about him as a person in the first place.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
The dissolute, debauched Lucius might have proved a challenge for Marcus in the long run, but illness carried him off after eight years in power.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026
Sylvanian Families has become embroiled in a legal battle with a TikTok creator who makes comedic videos of the children's toys in dark and debauched storylines.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2025
From their earliest shared Lunchables through debauched bachelorette parties right up to the Golden Girls years, women bond with intensity.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2025
“You are meant to be working separately, not in this...this debauched juxtaposition. I have warned you about collaborating, it is not the proper way to exhibit your skills.”
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Germany, haunted by the experience of hyperinflation in 1923 and after World War Two, is deeply fearful of debauching the central bank by printing money to lend to governments.
From Reuters ● Nov. 28, 2011
His novel is a grotesque, exciting and impudent tale of student ribaldry, army debauching and mystic romance.
From Time Magazine Archive
The graver peril is that the precious-metals fever will sap more and more confidence in paper money, debauching its value.
From Time Magazine Archive
Admiration and passion lag behind reason; are forever backsliding and debauching themselves among the companions of their youth.
From The Moral Economy by Ralph Barton Perry
Phocion answered sharply, Harpalus should repent of it, if he did not quickly leave off corrupting and debauching the city, which for the time silenced him, and checked his proceedings.
From Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans by Arthur Hugh Clough
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.
