degrade
Americanverb (used with object)
-
degrades,
present (3rd person singular)
-
degraded,
past participle, past
-
degrading
present participle
-
to lower in dignity or estimation; bring into contempt.
He felt they were degrading him by making him report to the supervisor.
- Antonyms:
- exalt
-
to lower in character or quality; debase.
- Antonyms:
- exalt
-
to reduce (someone) to a lower rank, degree, etc.; deprive of office, rank, status, or title, especially as a punishment.
degraded from director to assistant director.
- Antonyms:
- promote
-
to reduce in amount, strength, intensity, etc.
-
Physical Geography. to wear down by erosion, as hills.
-
Chemistry. to break down (a compound, especially an organic hydrocarbon).
verb (used without object)
-
degrades,
present (3rd person singular)
-
degraded,
past participle, past
-
degrading
present participle
-
to become degraded; weaken or worsen; deteriorate.
-
Chemistry. (especially of an organic hydrocarbon compound) to break down or decompose.
verb
-
(tr) to reduce in worth, character, etc; disgrace; dishonour
-
(tr) to reduce in rank, status, or degree; remove from office; demote
-
(tr) to reduce in strength, quality, intensity, etc
-
to reduce or be reduced by erosion or down-cutting, as a land surface or bed of a river Compare aggrade
-
chem to decompose or be decomposed into atoms or smaller molecules
Synonym Usage
See humble.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
degradesimple
-
degradessimple
-
have degradedperfect
-
has degradedperfect
-
am degradingprogressive
-
are degradingprogressive
-
is degradingprogressive
-
have been degradingperfect progressive
-
has been degradingperfect progressive
Past
-
degradedsimple
-
had degradedperfect
-
was degradingprogressive
-
were degradingprogressive
-
had been degradingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of degrade
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English degraden, from Late Latin dēgradāre, from Latin dē- de- + grad(us) “step, rank, progress” ( see grade) + -āre, infinitive verb suffix
Explanation
To degrade means to reduce the worth of something, as when smoke and pollution degrade the environment. The word can also mean to disrespect or insult: thoughtless comments can degrade a person. If you whistle at a passing woman, you're being disrespectful — your behavior degrades women. Degrade is often used to mean to insult someone because of their gender or race. Degrade also means to break down. Old paper or photographs can degrade when left in the light — their material breaks down so that they crumble at a touch.
Vocabulary lists containing degrade
30 GRE Words Beginning with "D"
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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How Low Can You Go? Synonyms for "Downward"
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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:
The material is relatively weak and may degrade too quickly, which can limit its usefulness when repairing bones that need to bear weight or withstand force.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
"The evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool," Burgum posted on X. "We won't back down to deranged people who want to destroy, deface, or degrade our monuments."
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
Despite the dismissal, Burgum vowed that the administration “won’t back down to deranged people who want to destroy, deface, or degrade our monuments.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
The four former commissioners have signed a joint letter arguing that the gondola proposal “would enable a private development to permanently and irreparably shrink, degrade, and destroy the integrity of a state park.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
Galen’s text had never been accompanied by illustrations—Galen explicitly said that illustrations were worthless—because in a manuscript culture complex illustrations degrade rapidly each time they are copied.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
As frozen ground degrades, previously buried minerals become exposed and water interacts more extensively with rock surfaces.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 20, 2026
Ferrari also faces the risk of its EV losing value faster than its traditional models as the battery degrades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
Sickness spreads, often directly through viruses or indirectly by depleting family resources, putting stress on people that degrades their health.
From Salon ● May 27, 2025
“It significantly degrades trust ... and people will also be hurt because they won’t trust the messaging.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2025
"And," said Lorimer, "how can a man love or respect a woman who buys him, and degrades him in his own eyes?"
From Woman and Artist by Max O'Rell
Initially, the model degraded responses to some questions about AI development without notifying users.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Save the Redwoods League last month conveyed the 125-acre property to the Yurok Tribe following a years-long project to restore the degraded industrial site to a diverse riparian habitat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Analysts have also raised doubts over the reliability and accuracy of Iran's missile arsenal, which the US says has been severely degraded by its strikes.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
The device worked as intended and then fully degraded within two weeks after activation.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026
The European woman, Fannie Kimball, who had married a Southern white slaveowner, described how human beings were degraded.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
"But that process also stops them fully degrading and causes toxic chemicals to leach into the environment."
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Known as living plastics, these materials contain dormant microbes capable of degrading the surrounding polymer.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026
But the stockpiles were initially designed for up to five full drawdowns, and the frequent releases are degrading the sites’ integrity, experts say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Rigid operational dictates cause infrastructure investment to plummet, ultimately degrading track quality and severely hurting long-term economic productivity.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 9, 2026
It was only when they found him funny that he found it, though he did not know the word, degrading.
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
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.
