debauch

1 of 2

verb

de·​bauch di-ˈbȯch 

-ˈbäch,

dē-

debauched; debauching; debauches

transitive verb

1

a

: to debase by extreme indulgence in bodily pleasures

a debauched society

… a heavy drinker who later became wholly debauched.

—Alistair Horne

b

: to lead away from virtue or duty

debauched by ambition

factory methods … debauched Victorian design

—Country Life

2

a

: seduce

notorious for debauching young women

b

archaic : to make disloyal

debaucher noun

debauch

2 of 2

noun

1

: an act or occasion of extreme indulgence in bodily pleasures : an act or occasion of debauchery

… great brimming drinks, each one of which was in itself a debauch.

—Jack London

2

: excessive indulgence

Wherever her verse is bad it is bad from some extravagance of imagery, … some kind of debauch of cleverness.

—G. K. Chesterton

Synonyms of debauch

Verb

• degrade
• corrupt
• poison
• debase
• humiliate
• weaken
• pervert
• subvert
• deprave
• deteriorate
• prostitute
• ruin
• destroy
• dilute
• demean
• vitiate

Choose the Right Synonym for debauch

debase, vitiate, deprave, corrupt, debauch, pervert mean to cause deterioration or lowering in quality or character.

debase implies a loss of position, worth, value, or dignity.

commercialism has debased the holiday

vitiate implies a destruction of purity, validity, or effectiveness by allowing entrance of a fault or defect.

a foreign policy vitiated by partisanship

deprave implies moral deterioration by evil thoughts or influences.

the claim that society is depraved by pornography

corrupt implies loss of soundness, purity, or integrity.

the belief that bureaucratese corrupts the language

debauch implies a debasing through sensual indulgence.

the long stay on a tropical isle had debauched the ship's crew

pervert implies a twisting or distorting from what is natural or normal.

perverted the original goals of the institute

Examples of debauch in a Sentence

Verb

the long stay on a tropical isle had debauched the ship's crew to the point where they no longer acted like naval professionals

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

The dark comedy follows a wealthy socialite, Stacy (Cherry), and a struggling writer, Becky (Chalotra), who are brought together at a lavish, debauched New York party. —Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 14 Aug. 2025

The atmosphere, at once debauched and sombre, felt like a wake, one attendee said. —Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 18 Apr. 2025

But as commercialization took hold, the event metastasized into a pit of hard drugs, drunkenness, and debauch a world apart from its bohemian origins. —Charlie Campbell, TIME, 17 Mar. 2025

In season two, when Mike White’s series decamped to Sicily, the credits riffed on Italian frescoes that got increasingly debauched — with a beat drop from opera to EDM. —Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2025

Life is debauched and consistent, until that handsome twentysomething gent wanders into Lee’s favorite watering hole. —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Nov. 2024

Noun

Having directed the Las Vegas Hangover debauches, Phillips follows Hollywood’s descent into hell. —Armond White, National Review, 29 Nov. 2024

Itaewon was spawned as a bawdy nightlife district adjacent to the U.S. military barracks, whose carousing GIs inevitably lent a reputation for sleaze and debauch. —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

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

Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

Verb

1595, in the meaning defined at sense 2b

Noun

1603, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

debauch

1 of 2 verb

de·​bauch di-ˈbȯch 

-ˈbäch

: to lead away from virtue or morality : corrupt

debaucher noun

debauch

2 of 2 noun

: an act, occasion, or period of debauchery