debase
verb (used with object)
to reduce in quality or value; adulterate.
were debasing
-
past progressiveof debase.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
The Olympic, Pythian and Isthmian games, which were kept up to give strength to the body and courage in the battle, were debasing and corrupting to the lowest degree of wretchedness.
From The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, March, 1880 by Aaron Walker
These writers were debasing the coinage with their street journalism.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 6 "English Language" to "Epsom Salts" by Various
It led me to think—to examine my past life, and to renounce for ever those follies, which I now felt were debasing to both soul and body, and unworthy the pursuit of any rational creature.
From The Monctons A Novel: Volume 2 (of 2) by Susanna Moodie
Only twelve years ago forty mills were debasing the immemorial and gigantic sequoia into mere timber in its last refuge in California.
From Supplement to Animal Sanctuaries in Labrador Supplement to an Address Presented by Lt.-Colonel William Wood, F.R.S.C. Before the Second Annual Meeting of the Commission of Conservation in January, 1911 by William Charles Henry Wood
