demoralize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to deprive (a person or persons) of spirit, courage, discipline, etc.; destroy the morale of.
The continuous barrage demoralized the infantry.
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to throw (a person) into disorder or confusion; bewilder.
We were so demoralized by that one wrong turn that we were lost for hours.
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to corrupt or undermine the morals of.
verb
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to undermine the morale of; dishearten
he was demoralized by his defeat
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to debase morally; corrupt
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to throw into confusion
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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demoralizesimple
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demoralizessimple
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have demoralizedperfect
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has demoralizedperfect
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am demoralizingprogressive
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are demoralizingprogressive
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is demoralizingprogressive
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have been demoralizingperfect progressive
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has been demoralizingperfect progressive
Past
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demoralizedsimple
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had demoralizedperfect
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was demoralizingprogressive
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were demoralizingprogressive
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had been demoralizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of demoralize
From the French word démoraliser, dating back to 1785–95. See de-, moral, -ize
Explanation
If something demoralizes you, it makes you feel bad or hopeless. When your soccer team was trounced by the last-place team in the league, the loss seemed to demoralize everyone, from players to coaches to fans. Demoralize can also mean what it looks like, "to remove the morals of." For example, parents worry that R-rated movies will demoralize their children. In other words, they fear kids will lose their sense of what's right and wrong if they see glamorous actors indulging in bad behavior.
Vocabulary lists containing demoralize
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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The Secret Life of Bees
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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:
It also would all but destroy Detroit’s immediate chances, demoralize the clubhouse and likely alienate a fan base desperate to see the Tigers win their first title since 1984.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 10, 2025
The plan was to demoralize war-weary, homesick troops scattered around the Pacific theater.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2025
He then answered his own question: “It’s as if they only wanted to scare, hurt, and demoralize us.”
From Slate ● Feb. 13, 2025
A heavy loss of seats could demoralize the party faithful and panic Tory lawmakers, who fear that they will be tossed out of Parliament in the general election.
From New York Times ● May 3, 2024
“I didn’t want to demoralize you too early in the game.”
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
In a world that often demoralizes rural Americans, and Appalachians in particular, it is imperative that we understand the value of our experience.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2025
None of this really demoralizes Im, who knows as well as anybody that his park is a gigantic money sink.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2024
“It demoralizes police officers and that doesn’t do any good for the officers or the community.”
From Washington Times ● Feb. 1, 2022
When the Vancouver Canucks go 17 minutes without a shot and then score on their first chance, that demoralizes a team.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 12, 2021
Their absence looks like treason while their presence demoralizes.
From The Contemporary Review, January 1883 Vol 43, No. 1 by Various
But when he and his coaching staff took over the U.S. team in the fall of 2024, following its disastrous performance in the Copa América, he said he inherited a demoralized, dispirited group.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
Now, after that latest detention, Garcia Venegas sounds demoralized.
From Salon ● May 24, 2026
Churchill wrote “My Early Life” for a generation demoralized by World War I and determined to break with its past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 22, 2026
For this reason, according to the researchers, investors who are fans of a losing team will be more demoralized than the winning team’s fans will be exuberant.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 18, 2026
Jason, Hazel, and Frank had returned to the scene of the catastrophe, hoping to dig through the rubble and find a way to save Percy and Annabeth, but they’d come back demoralized.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
Even when I know I’m delivering at a high level, being asked for constant updates on my progress can feel demoralizing.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
The findings about the bat bridges were demoralizing for Altringham, who during his career appeared at several public inquiries into the impact of road-building projects on bats.
From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2026
Inside the Justice Department, the resolution was demoralizing: “He’s admitted he owes money, and we get money, but everything else about it stinks to high heaven,” said a current DOJ official familiar with the case.
From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2026
We are deskilling and dumbing down on a demoralizing diet of digital slop.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
There is something demoralizing about watching two people get more and more crazy about each other, especially when you are the only extra person in the room.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
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.
