Country Life
Synonyms
Examples of debauch in a Sentence
Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2024
Snook plays not just the eternally young but damnably debauched Dorian Gray, but every one of the 26 parts in two unbroken hours of ceaselessly kinetic, highly choreographed, tech-heavy action.
—Demetrios Matheou, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
As debauched and dirty as our film is, it’s still done so intentionally and tastefully.
—Marlow Stern, Rolling Stone, 6 July 2023
That voice — languid, searching, slightly debauched — was once the centerpiece of a complete and holistic text.
—James Robins, Vulture, 1 May 2023
Despite its enduring popularity, the mojito is saddled with a bit of a bad reputation among cocktail cognoscenti: Overzealous bartenders often debauch it with too much sugar, too much booze, or fruit and other flavors, misdeeds that add more color than coherence.
—Matthew Kronsberg, WSJ, 1 Mar. 2022
The medical community and laypersons alike often blamed victims of the disease for their own suffering, believing that vicious, debauched, and unhygienic lifestyles begat typhus.
—Timothy Kent Holliday, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Apr. 2020
His voice is chirpy-thin, making his stories of debauched after-hours excess sound like child’s play.
—New York Times, 9 May 2018
Given this is a bachelorette party, though, her activities are sure to be slightly more debauched — perhaps something fun with vaginal jade eggs?
—Amanda Arnold, The Cut, 11 Apr. 2018
TIME, 26 Oct. 2023
But this year, the island is celebrating much more than Ernest Hemingway’s six-toed cats, Duval Street pub crawls or a Fantasy Fest debauch.
—Gwen Filosa, sun-sentinel.com, 22 Mar. 2022
After the fashion industry disgraced itself by banishing Melania Trump, this latest debauch comes as no surprise.
—Armond White, National Review, 10 Mar. 2021
Take a break from taking a break with a long debauch at the Chateau Marmont?
—Washington Post, 20 Oct. 2020
In stark contrast to Mr Sehic’s debauches, hundreds of starving Bosniaks, led by small numbers of armed men, raid surrounding Serb villages for food.
—The Economist, 3 Oct. 2019
Pain and Glory Rated R for language, recreational drug use and remembrance of debauches past.
—Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 3 Oct. 2019
Hot Springs was a wild town in those days—a spa for rich northerners, a debauch of illegal gambling, fancy nightclubs, and the Oaklawn racetrack.
—Joe Klein, Daily Intelligencer, 30 June 2017
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'debauch.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Verb
borrowed from French débaucher "to divert or distract (a person) from work, obligations, etc., tempt into excess or immorality," going back to Middle French, "to cause (a servant, worker) to leave his master's service," going back to Old French desbauchier "to scatter, disperse (people, a crowd)," presumably from an earlier sense "to rough-hew a beam from a larger log" (hence, "to split, separate") from des- dis- + -bauchier, verbal derivative of bauch (Walloon, Picard) "beam," borrowed from Old Low Franconian *balk-, going back to Germanic *balkōn "beam" — more at balk entry 2
Noun
borrowed from French débauche, noun derivative of débaucher "to divert or distract (a person) from work, obligations, etc., tempt into excess or immorality" — more at debauch entry 1
Dictionary Entries Near debauch
Cite this Entry
“Debauch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/debauch. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
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