downgrade
Americannoun
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downgrades
plural
adjective
verb (used with object)
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downgrades,
present (3rd person singular)
-
downgraded,
past participle, past
-
downgrading
present participle
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to assign to a lower status with a smaller salary.
-
to minimize the importance of; denigrate.
She tried to downgrade the findings of the investigation.
-
to assign a lower security classification to (information, a document, etc.).
idioms
verb
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to reduce in importance, esteem, or value, esp to demote (a person) to a poorer job
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to speak of disparagingly
noun
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a downward slope, esp in a road
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waning in importance, popularity, health, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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downgradesimple
-
downgradessimple
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have downgradedperfect
-
has downgradedperfect
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am downgradingprogressive
-
are downgradingprogressive
-
is downgradingprogressive
-
have been downgradingperfect progressive
-
has been downgradingperfect progressive
Past
-
downgradedsimple
-
had downgradedperfect
-
was downgradingprogressive
-
were downgradingprogressive
-
had been downgradingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of downgrade
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:
M and the writer move through highly mediated spaces that amplify certain features and downgrade others, a kind of edited, hyperreal landscape.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
President Nicusor Dan, a pro-European centrist, tried to address people's concerns last weekend after Romania avoided a downgrade of its credit rating by Fitch to "junk", or below investment grade.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
The analysts downgrade the stock to underweight from sector weight, with a $250 price target.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Jenrick said: "Frankly I find it astonishing that, just a short period after he was elected to Parliament, the authorities, the government, chose to massively downgrade his security".
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
The surveillance department was meant to monitor subprime bonds and downgrade them if the loans that underpinned them went bad.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
RBC Capital Markets analyst Trung Huynh downgrades shares of the Keytruda maker following a nearly 13% rally.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
DBS downgrades the stock’s rating to hold from buy and lowers its target price to $0.80 from $1.95.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Walter is now racing to sell or unwind many of those undisclosed loans to head off ratings downgrades that would scare off policy buyers, the Journal reported.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
AmInvestment Bank downgrades Public Bank’s rating to hold from buy, while maintaining a 5.60 ringgit target price.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
If Moody’s downgrades GE paper, it is a big deal.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
“City Council needs to be laser-focused on ensuring that we don’t get downgraded again, and with this budget season, we face some real hurdles there,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
This was downgraded to a level four by Friday morning, but they continue to warn of landslide and flooding risks.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The level-5 warnings of heavy rain were all downgraded to level-4 as of Friday morning.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
The earthquake hit at 8:30 a.m. and was initially reported as magnitude 4.1, then 3.9, before being downgraded to 3.8.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Gradually, he downgraded his hopes, letting go of the idea of college, thinking he’d train to become an electrician instead.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Ader upgraded Backblaze shares to Market Perform from Underperform—just a few months after downgrading the stock.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
China had sent its defense minister, a primarily diplomatic role with no combat responsibilities, to four straight editions of the dialogue before downgrading its representation last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026
Anmuth was more critical of Meta’s spending plans, downgrading the stock to neutral from overweight on Thursday.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 30, 2026
Accompanying that rise has been an increase in attacks on livestock, and that has led to the EU downgrading the "strictly protected" status of wolves to "protected".
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
Toward the end of 1971 some management committees were still reported to be disregarding or downgrading general assembly proposals, but such instances were said to be growing progressively fewer.
From Area Handbook for Romania by Donald W. Bernier
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.
