debug

verb

de·​bug (ˌ)dē-ˈbəg 

debugged; debugging; debugs

transitive verb

1

: to remove insects from

2

: to eliminate errors in or malfunctions of

debug a computer program

3

: to remove a concealed microphone or wiretapping device from

debugger noun

Synonyms of debug

• amend
• correct
• rewrite
• remedy
• reform

Examples of debug in a Sentence

She's been hired to write and debug computer programs.

the computer program ran much faster after it was debugged

Recent Examples on the Web

Performance That Relies On Deep Institutional Reasoning Frontier models are extraordinary at problems that are truly novel, ambiguous and wide—writing sonnets, solving math olympiad problems, debugging Python code. —Anshul Gupta, Forbes.com, 18 June 2026

Live Share enables real-time collaborative editing and debugging without requiring teammates to clone repos or configure matching environments. —Stackcommerce Team, PC Magazine, 10 June 2026

So the researchers debugged the genome by hand. —Jacek Krywko, Scientific American, 30 Apr. 2026

When something breaks, an engineer debugs it. —Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 28 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1901, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for debug

• humbug
• prodrug
• unplug
• antidrug
• mealybug
• multidrug
• chug
• doug
• drug
• dug
• hug
• jug

Kids Definition

debug

verb

de·​bug (ˈ)dē-ˈbəg 

: to remove mistakes from

debug a computer program