deprave

[ dih-preyv ]

/ dɪˈpreɪv /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for: deprave / depraved on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object), de·praved, de·prav·ing.

to make morally bad or evil; vitiate; corrupt.

Obsolete. to defame.

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

who

whom

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of deprave

1325–75; Middle English depraven (<Anglo-French ) <Latin dēprāvāre to pervert, corrupt, equivalent to dē-de- + prāv(us) crooked + -āre infinitive suffix

OTHER WORDS FROM deprave

dep·ra·va·tion

[dep-ruh-vey-shuhn], /ˌdɛp rəˈveɪ ʃən/, nounde·prav·er, nounde·prav·ing·ly, adverbnon·dep·ra·va·tion, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use deprave in a sentence

We can admit the intractability of depravation, and still strive for dignity.
Obama's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech|Barack Obama|December 10, 2009|DAILY BEAST
When the Boston being abandons himself—or herself—to fashion, she suffers a depravation into something quite lurid.
April Hopes|William Dean Howells
It is a voluptuous excess in drink to the depravation of reason.
A Christian Directory (Volume 1 of 4)|Richard Baxter
Now, no such depravation appears in the versions printed by Percy, Scott, and Jamieson.
The Romantic Scottish Ballads: Their Epoch and Authorship|Robert Chambers

Thus every legislation "has for its consequence at once the enslavement of society and the depravation of the legislators."
Anarchism|Paul Eltzbacher
The depravation of manners, as savage as they were corrupt, is marked by the presence of the emperor himself.
The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire|Edward Gibbon

British Dictionary definitions for deprave

deprave

/ (dɪˈpreɪv) /

verb (tr)

to make morally bad; corrupt; vitiate

obsolete to defame; slander

Derived forms of deprave

depravation (ˌdɛprəˈveɪʃən), noundepraver, noun

Word Origin for deprave

C14: from Latin dēprāvāre to distort, corrupt, from de- + prāvus crooked

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

deprave

Origin of deprave

OTHER WORDS FROM deprave

Words related to deprave

How to use deprave in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for deprave

Derived forms of deprave

Word Origin for deprave