degrade

verb

de·​grade di-ˈgrād 

dē-

degraded; degrading; degrades

transitive verb

1

a

: to lower in grade, rank, or status : demote

b

: to strip of rank or honors

c

: to lower to an inferior or less effective level

degrade the image quality

d

: to scale down in desirability or salability

2

a

: to bring to low esteem or into disrepute

Their actions have degraded their profession.

comments intended to humiliate and degrade others

b

: to drag down in moral or intellectual character : corrupt

… impelled, by misfortune and misery, to the vice that has degraded them.

—Charles Dickens

3

: to impair in respect to some physical property

material degraded by exposure to sunlight

4

geology : to wear down by erosion

degraded the hillside

5

chemistry : to reduce the complexity of (a chemical compound) : decompose

intransitive verb

1

: to pass from a higher grade or class to a lower

causes the meat to degrade in quality

2

of a chemical compound : to become reduced in complexity

plastics that don't easily degrade

degrader noun

Did you know?

In Shakespeare's King Lear, the old king is degraded by the daughters he has given his kingdom to. He finds it degrading, for instance, when the number of his guards is reduced from 100 to 25. His degradation seems complete when, after going mad, he's reduced to living in the wilderness. As you can see, degrade is often a synonym for humiliate.

Synonyms

• break
• bust
• demote
• disrate
• downgrade
• reduce

Examples of degrade in a Sentence

The group accuses the company of degrading women in its ads.

He felt degraded by their remarks.

Scratches on a camera lens will degrade the image.

Pollution has degraded air quality.

Recent Examples on the Web

In 2007, Comcast was caught degrading traffic from the file-sharing service BitTorrent, which held contracts to distribute licensed content from Hollywood studios and other sources in direct competition with Comcast’s pay-TV business. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 26 Apr. 2024

Casualties or not, the specter of future Iranian drone and missile barrages will harden Israel’s desire to degrade or eliminate the threat posed by Iran, its proxies, and its nuclear program. —Suzanne Maloney, Foreign Affairs, 18 Apr. 2024

Many don’t see it that way and say an airport name change degrades Oakland, its image, history and people. —Kristin J. Bender, The Mercury News, 14 Apr. 2024

And those outputs, spewed across the web and likely used to train future language models, could create a feedback loop of degrading performance for thousands of languages. —Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 12 Apr. 2024

Clothes should be stashed in zipped up bags (most pros recommend cloth, not plastic, since the latter can degrade and discolor fabric). —Jennifer Barger, Washington Post, 10 Apr. 2024

Methane rapidly degrades in oxygen-rich atmospheres. —Elise Cutts, WIRED, 7 Apr. 2024

What's more, the banjo was prominently featured in degrading blackface minstrel shows. —Aaron Cohen, NPR, 5 Apr. 2024

America should be attempting to deter our enemies, and, when that fails, degrading their capabilities or defeating them via our partners is the next best alternative. —The Editors, National Review, 17 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French degrader, from Late Latin degradare, from Latin de- + gradus step, grade — more at grade entry 1

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Kids Definition

degrade

verb

de·​grade di-ˈgrād 

1

: to reduce from a higher to a lower rank or degree : deprive of an office or position

2

: to lower the character of : debase

3

: to reduce the complexity of a chemical compound : decompose

degradable

-ˈgrād-ə-bəl

adjective

degrader noun

Medical Definition

degrade

transitive verb

de·​grade di-ˈgrād 

degraded; degrading

: to reduce the complexity of (a chemical compound) by splitting off one or more groups or larger components : decompose

cellulose is degraded by the action of some bacteria

intransitive verb

: to undergo chemical degradation