degrading
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of degrading
Explanation
Degrading describes something that is disrespectful or dishonorable like a degrading comment that angered everyone who heard it. The word degrading comes from degrade, which means "to treat someone with contempt." So something that is degrading is cruel, meant to put a person or group down. For example, if you ever heard someone say that all women (or men, kids, or people from a certain place or who speak a certain language or belong to a certain racial group) are "all alike," you have heard a degrading comment.
Vocabulary lists containing degrading
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney
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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
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They Called Us Enemy
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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.
Critics of the sentence have described it as "inhumane and degrading".
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
The researchers found that excess EXO1 destabilizes newly formed DNA through two main mechanisms, expanding single-stranded DNA gaps and degrading reversed replication forks.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 20, 2026
It has isolated us and attached us to an impersonal and degrading consumer market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
Dodsworth said the following day, when Wignall was arrested, she went to a local police station where she spent 10 hours making statements "about some of the most intimate, degrading points of my life".
From BBC ● May 19, 2026
They said it in such a degrading way; they never said “please” or asked if we minded.
From "Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice" by Phillip Hoose
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.
