deprave

[dih-preyv]

verb (used with object)

depraved, depraving 

1. to make morally bad or evil; vitiate; corrupt.

2. Obsolete.,  to defame.

deprave

/ ˌdɛprəˈveɪʃən, dɪˈpreɪv /

verb

1. to make morally bad; corrupt; vitiate

2. obsolete,  to defame; slander

Other Word Forms

• depravation noun
• depraver noun
• depravingly adverb
• nondepravation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of deprave¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of deprave¹

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

Example Sentences

The trial judge described him as "depraved", "arrogant" and a "bully".

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Etoria and four other individuals - from Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen - were described by the US government as "depraved monsters" when they were expelled to Eswatini in southern Africa in July.

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Police said blackmailing children into sending increasingly depraved pictures of themselves became the unemployed 22-year-old's "full-time job" from his bedroom at his parent's house in Wigan.

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Department of Homeland Security, which called him a “depraved illegal alien who should have never been in this country,” in a post on X earlier this year.

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In a series of posts on the X social media platform, McLaughlin listed the crimes the five deported to Eswatini had been convicted of, describing them as "depraved monsters" who had been "terrorizing American communities".

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