Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To lower in character, quality, or value; degrade.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To reduce in quality or state; impair the purity, worth, or credit of; vitiate; adulterate: as, to
debase gold or silver by alloy. - To lower or impair morally; degrade.
- Synonyms Debase, Degrade, etc. (see
abase ), lower, deteriorate, dishonor, alloy, taint, corrupt, defile. See list underdegrade .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To reduce from a higher to a lower state or grade of worth, dignity, purity, station, etc.; to degrade; to lower; to deteriorate; to abase
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
lower incharacter ,quality , orvalue ; todegrade . - verb transitive To lower the value of (a
currency ) by reducing the amount ofvaluable metal in thecoins .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb lower in value by increasing the base-metal content
- verb corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality
- verb corrupt, debase, or make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance; often by replacing valuable ingredients with inferior ones
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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But now I fain debase myself to all who rail at thee:
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It should be called a debase rather than a debate.
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The second reason to debase is to consume the debt.
SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page Steven Hansen 2009
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Fixing the currency to a finite standard guarantees that it will be necessary to "debase" to accommodate a growing population, growing demand for money itself.
How an Iranian 'Oil Bourse' Threatens the American Empire 2008
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That doesn't mean that I'm trying to "debase" reading by aligning it with "the essentially passive experience of watching television," it just means that I want my time with a book to be well-spent.
Archive 2007-01-01 Michael May 2007
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_Delight_ is naturally formed by the participle _de_ and _light_, to make light, in the same way as "debase," to make base, "defile," to make foul.
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Y: And who turns away from the religion of Abraham but such as debase their souls with folly?
Three Translations of The Koran (Al-Qur'an) side by side Abdullah Yusuf Ali 1902
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Despite all the worries that quantitative easing will "debase" the greenback, it's still the currency of choice when risk appears.
The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed IAN McGUGAN 2010
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But a Pentagon-supported service group, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, has strongly opposed expanding the definition to include psychological symptoms, saying it would "debase" the honor.
Delaware Watch 2009
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She said: "Nudity has always existed in art, and I think that, given the right conditions, it doesn't necessarily 'debase' any more than it celebrates or represents the human body" … … … ….
mediagrey commented on the word debase
As the scorn of society grips every fiber of my confused existence. Me, an ego centric person made possible only through the comfort of a late Modern Industrialism, looks on helplessly at the debase direction that is driving man into the abyss and eventual collapse of society as I know it.
May 17, 2009
nuxiy commented on the word debase
Very nice, mediagrey :)
May 17, 2009
rolig commented on the word debase
Nice, Mediagrey, but I think you mean "the debased direction". "Debase" is a verb, not an adjective.
May 17, 2009
Kristianto2010 commented on the word debase
The Bible tells us that a rejection of God can actually lead to a more hateful attitude toward Him: “Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind . . . to become haters of God” (Rom. 1:28-30). ODB April 28, 2011.
April 28, 2011
bilby commented on the word debase
All debase are belong to incubus.
April 28, 2011
blafferty commented on the word debase
Nice reference, bilby!
April 28, 2011