abase

verb

\ ə-ˈbās

abased; abasing

Definition of abase

1 formal : to lower in rank, office, prestige, or esteem abase oneself … the shame that had abased him within and without …— James Joyce

2 archaic : to lower physically As we enter among them the great elephant makes us a bow in the best style of elephantine courtesy, bending lowly down his mountain bulk, with trunk abased and leg thrust out behind.— Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Examples of abase in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web One by one, internees abase themselves before 60 of their fellow prisoners, repenting of their errors in thinking and their nonprogressive religious practices. — James E. Person Jr., National Review, "Rod Dreher’s Advice for Christians in a Secular Age," 17 Sep. 2020 By the end of the weekend, the entire NBA was in damage-control mode, profusely and absurdly abasing themselves. — Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, "The NBA’s Abasement, and Ours," 7 Oct. 2019 Only fearful, humiliated ex-Trumpers in need of campaign support, like Jeff Sessions, who is again running for the Senate in Alabama, abase themselves and speak of his virtue. — David Remnick, The New Yorker, "Trump’s Impeachment and “Impeachment Lite”," 19 Dec. 2019 Judging from Capitol Hill’s self-abasing deference to Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, the answer is no. — William Mcgurn, WSJ, "Mueller Is Trumping Congress," 24 July 2017 Consequently, the hero must be either venerated and elevated or cynically scorned and abased. — Elliot Kaufman, National Review, "John McCain: A Hero Under Fire," 19 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'abase.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for abase

alteration (conformed to base entry 3) of Middle English abessen, abaisen, abaschen, borrowed from Anglo-French abesser, abaisser, from a-, prefix in transitive verbs (going back to Latin ad-) + -besser, going back to Vulgar Latin *bassiāre "to lower," derivative of Late Latin bassus "fat, short, low" — more at ad-, base entry 3