demoralize
Americanverb (used with object)
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demoralizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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demoralized,
past participle, past
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demoralizing
present participle
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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
-
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:
As a culture, we probably do create unreasonable, sentimental expectations around family that depress and demoralize vast numbers of people.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025
On a team without set bullpen roles, Henriquez wants to be a closer, using his blazing fastball not just to demoralize hitters but to shut down games as well.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 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
They were younger, coarser men who enforced every niggling regulation, whose job was to harass and demoralize us.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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
“It demoralizes the workforce ... you got substandard classes,” you said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2022
“It demoralizes police officers and that doesn’t do any good for the officers or the community.”
From Washington Times ● Feb. 1, 2022
How can someone who loves you be okay with leaving things around for you to clean up, knowing it demoralizes you?
From Washington Post ● Jul. 26, 2021
No part of us is more susceptible of morbidness than the moral sense; none demoralizes more thoroughly when morbid.
From The Teacher Essays and Addresses on Education by Alice Freeman Palmer
He said that while Walker was despondent about the change in their finances, his sister hadn’t seemed too demoralized.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
Instead, Ted’s emphasis on personal growth and camaraderie rebuilds the Greyhounds from their league’s demoralized joke into its comeback kings, powered by their yearning to Believe.
From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2026
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
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
“Please,” I said, more demoralized than I wanted to sound.
From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely
What Misty and Eleazar do share is a sometimes demoralizing profession, where you are often faced with the word no.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Challenges like adjusting to a new language or learning unfamiliar customs and eating different foods can prove exhausting and demoralizing.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
The demoralizing loss sent the Lakers into a three-game tail spin one month before the playoffs.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 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
I tried to push Russell out of my mind, but my thoughts slid about, half focused on the demoralizing drama as George fell into poverty, half drifting to my own predicament.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
