demote
[dih-moht]
- to reduce to a lower grade, rank, class, or position (opposed to promote): They demoted the careless waiter to busboy.
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Origin of demote
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for demote
Contemporary Examples
Obama or Congress could demote or impeach Jaczko within the next year; either move would be highly unprecedented.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Greg Jaczko's Controversial ReignDaniel Stone
December 14, 2011
Historical Examples
Billy Kasker wandered off for a few moments and I had to demote him.
Be It Ever ThusRobert Moore Williams
demote
- (tr) to lower in rank or position; relegate
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Word Origin
C19: from de- + (pro) mote
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for demote
v.
1881, American English coinage from de- + stem of promote. Said to have been Midwestern in origin.
Regarding an antithesis to 'promote,' the word universally in use in Cambridge, in Harvard College, is drop. The same word is in use in the leading schools here (Boston). I hope I may be counted every time against such barbarisms as 'demote' and 'retromote.' [Edward Everett Hale, 1892, letter to the publishers of "Funk & Wagnalls' Standard Dictionary"]
Related: Demoted; demoting.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper