degrade
Americanverb (used with object)
-
degrades,
present (3rd person singular)
-
degraded,
past participle, past
-
degrading
present participle
-
to lower in dignity or estimation; bring into contempt.
He felt they were degrading him by making him report to the supervisor.
- Antonyms:
- exalt
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to lower in character or quality; debase.
- Antonyms:
- exalt
-
to reduce (someone) to a lower rank, degree, etc.; deprive of office, rank, status, or title, especially as a punishment.
degraded from director to assistant director.
- Antonyms:
- promote
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to reduce in amount, strength, intensity, etc.
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Physical Geography. to wear down by erosion, as hills.
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Chemistry. to break down (a compound, especially an organic hydrocarbon).
verb (used without object)
-
degrades,
present (3rd person singular)
-
degraded,
past participle, past
-
degrading
present participle
-
to become degraded; weaken or worsen; deteriorate.
-
Chemistry. (especially of an organic hydrocarbon compound) to break down or decompose.
verb
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(tr) to reduce in worth, character, etc; disgrace; dishonour
-
(tr) to reduce in rank, status, or degree; remove from office; demote
-
(tr) to reduce in strength, quality, intensity, etc
-
to reduce or be reduced by erosion or down-cutting, as a land surface or bed of a river Compare aggrade
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chem to decompose or be decomposed into atoms or smaller molecules
Synonym Usage
See humble.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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degradesimple
-
degradessimple
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have degradedperfect
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has degradedperfect
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am degradingprogressive
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are degradingprogressive
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is degradingprogressive
-
have been degradingperfect progressive
-
has been degradingperfect progressive
Past
-
degradedsimple
-
had degradedperfect
-
was degradingprogressive
-
were degradingprogressive
-
had been degradingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of degrade
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English degraden, from Late Latin dēgradāre, from Latin dē- de- + grad(us) “step, rank, progress” ( see grade) + -āre, infinitive verb suffix
Explanation
To degrade means to reduce the worth of something, as when smoke and pollution degrade the environment. The word can also mean to disrespect or insult: thoughtless comments can degrade a person. If you whistle at a passing woman, you're being disrespectful — your behavior degrades women. Degrade is often used to mean to insult someone because of their gender or race. Degrade also means to break down. Old paper or photographs can degrade when left in the light — their material breaks down so that they crumble at a touch.
Vocabulary lists containing degrade
30 GRE Words Beginning with "D"
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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How Low Can You Go? Synonyms for "Downward"
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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.
See Examples For:
But former Apple AI staffers say that its privacy stance can slow its own product development and degrade the AI experiences it is able to offer on its platform.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Recognizing that 9/11’s horrors compounded over the years does not degrade the memory of its initial victims.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026
He then added he would not attend the count as Essex Police had told him about an "organised campaign to disrupt and degrade the result".
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The material is relatively weak and may degrade too quickly, which can limit its usefulness when repairing bones that need to bear weight or withstand force.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
No generation has the right to dictate to another what its culture ought to be, or to degrade its choices as stupid and offensive.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
As frontotemporal dementia degrades social awareness, loved ones and neuroscientists confront the heartbreaking boundary between a changing mind and the enduring self.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
When a biopsy is taken, the genetic material in the tissue degrades within hours, unless it is protected.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
If it degrades rapidly, that means insects are attracted to the plentiful organic matter.
From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2025
Diet activates autophagy -- a cellular "clean-up" process that degrades and recycles damaged proteins.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2025
M. Cousin has a convenient method of exaggerating and aggrandizing the objects of his admiration: he degrades or depresses their surroundings.
From French Classics by William Cleaver Wilkinson
If some of these satellites get hacked, damaged, derailed, or destroyed, America’s ability to fight a war would be seriously degraded.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Meanwhile Ezra Cohen, the former Trump defence official who is now a fellow at the Hudson Institute, described the president as having degraded Iran's conventional military threat.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
There are a few fun visual gags about the degraded far-future — a hospital named St. God’s, the city’s digital clock tower being stuck on a blinking 12:00 — but its punchlines tend toward nasty.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
The researchers "tested it in soil, seawater and deionised water. It degraded in all of those conditions ... and we estimate that it would biodegrade within about nine months," she said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
The only way to eradicate transformation was to digest the material with an enzyme that, of all things, degraded DNA.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Campaigners have claimed that the sentences could amount to inhumane and degrading treatment.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
“The experience was traumatizing, degrading and humiliating,” André said when the lawsuit was filed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
A ride on a people mover feels even more degrading in comparison to the alternative mode serving other travelers.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
Known as living plastics, these materials contain dormant microbes capable of degrading the surrounding polymer.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026
But what none of us realized was how demeaning and degrading this actually was.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
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.
