ABASE Synonyms: 160 Similar and Opposite Words

abase

verb

ə-ˈbās

as in to degrade

to lower in character, dignity, or quality was unwilling to abase himself by pleading guilty to a crime that he did not commit

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in to humiliate

to reduce to a lower standing in one's own eyes or in others' eyes I certainly don't abase myself when I do good, honest manual labor

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of abase Turturro was attracted to the novel’s house style: Its manic, sarcastic, abasing observations, largely written in the third person but never far from Sabbath’s perspective, seemed made for the theater. —

Marc Tracy, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2023 Pence has long since perfected the ability to abase himself in public without seeming the least bit ashamed. —

Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2023 Unfortunately, an impulse to abase oneself isn’t resolved by a recognition that human life is a collaboration. —

Caleb Crain, The Atlantic, 10 Aug. 2021 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, 17 Sep. 2020

Recent Examples of Synonyms for abase

Verb

The country’s ministry of culture and sports set out a series of rules and regulations which included no pyro, no face paint and no shouting of words that could be degrading towards any person on the field, not even the referee.

— Tim Spiers, New York Times, 10 June 2026
The bones also were coated with a light layer of minerals from the surrounding seawater, which may have prevented them from degrading.

— ABC News, ABC News, 10 June 2026