debug
Americanverb (used with object)
-
debugs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
debugged,
past participle, past
-
debugging
present participle
-
to detect and remove defects or errors from.
-
to remove electronic bugs from (a room or building).
-
Computers. to detect and remove errors from (a computer program).
-
to rid (a garden, plant, etc.) of insect pests, as by the application of a pesticide.
verb
-
to locate and remove concealed microphones from (a room, etc)
-
to locate and remove defects in (a device, system, plan, etc)
-
to remove insects from
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
debugsimple
-
debugssimple
-
have debuggedperfect
-
has debuggedperfect
-
am debuggingprogressive
-
are debuggingprogressive
-
is debuggingprogressive
-
have been debuggingperfect progressive
-
has been debuggingperfect progressive
Past
-
debuggedsimple
-
had debuggedperfect
-
was debuggingprogressive
-
were debuggingprogressive
-
had been debuggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of debug
Vocabulary lists containing debug
Computer Science and Technology - Middle School
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Computer Science and Technology - High School
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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:
Artificial-intelligence agents can already help book your air travel, debug your software and plan your workout routines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
“We’ll debug that later,” Zuckerberg said on stage after he couldn’t answer the WhatsApp call using the wristband and glasses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2025
That should help debug systems and also benefit safety, the researchers say: If an AI is planning something dangerous, a human operator can tell and can intervene.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 8, 2024
Bard will be able to code in 20 programming languages including Java, C++ and Python, and can also help debug and explain code to users, Google said on Friday.
From Reuters ● Apr. 21, 2023
"Sometimes the easiest way to show somebody how to program or debug something was simply to sit down at the terminal and do it for them," explains Steele.
From Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software by Sam Williams
It writes academic essays and fairy tales, tells jokes, explains scientific concepts and composes and debugs computer code.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 28, 2023
An engineer debugs an instrument at the China Spallation Neutron Source in Dongguan; scientists use accelerators such as this and the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility to study materials’ behaviour.Credit:
From Nature ● Mar. 19, 2019
A spokesman at Hasbro said the company expected that figure to rise as it debugs the game over the coming weeks.
From Time Magazine Archive
They have downloaded it, debugged it and redeployed it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
The team has now synthesized and debugged all sixteen yeast chromosomes.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 8, 2023
It will be “a profound development in spaceflight if and when Starship is debugged and operational,” he said.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 15, 2023
These are not programs with single-line instructions that can be debugged easily.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 31, 2023
The only exception was that each team was permitted one laptop for work on the project, but it had to be handed over to be scanned, debugged, and approved for use.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
Anthropic says Fable 5 is exceptionally good at writing and debugging software code, answering complex research questions and analyzing images.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
"Thanks to generative AI, researchers with a limited background in data science won't always need to form wide collaborations or spend hours debugging code," Tarca said.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 21, 2026
The agents then perform tasks such as sending emails and debugging code and even calling restaurants to make reservations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026
He encourages users to engage with the technology as a dynamic co-pilot for tasks ranging from debugging code to planning a vacation.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 29, 2025
Node:shotgun debugging, Next:shovelware, Previous:short card, Up:= S = shotgun debugging n.
From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Guy L. Steele
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.
