as in to degrade
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
bastardize the art form by adapting it to popular taste
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Recent Examples of bastardize
Over the years, though, the cocktail has become bastardized into a sugary drink containing all sorts of fruit juices and sweeteners, causing it to be denegrated alongside the likes of Long Island Ice Teas and Strawberry Daiquiris.
—
Tori Latham, Robb Report, 17 Apr. 2023
These white people in blackface entertained the masses with stereotypes of Blackness, bastardizing the Black identity in the process.
—Tayo Bero, refinery29.com, 4 Apr. 2023
Society, this week, also bastardized two wholesome childhood fixtures, SunnyD and Girl Scout Cookies.
—Li Goldstein, Bon Appétit, 10 Mar. 2023
Videos that bastardize neighborhood names, or cluelessly treat storied establishments like new discoveries.
—Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 20 Aug. 2022
To bastardize the bands Pablo Cruise or Yes, love will always find a way.
—Outside Online, 13 Feb. 2021
What does a profession license mean if you’re allowed to bastardize the court system that way.
—Dave Boucher, Detroit Free Press, 13 Dec. 2020
As a carcass decomposes, the bacteria in the body itself runs rampant, producing its signature stink and bastardizing the soil’s microbiome.
—Matt Simon, Wired, 21 Jan. 2020
The initial fear that the band was going to make a killing on wading-pool-deep music and basically bastardize country music was way off-base.
—Chuck Yarborough, cleveland, 8 Jan. 2020
Tori Latham, Robb Report, 17 Apr. 2023
These white people in blackface entertained the masses with stereotypes of Blackness, bastardizing the Black identity in the process.
—Tayo Bero, refinery29.com, 4 Apr. 2023
Society, this week, also bastardized two wholesome childhood fixtures, SunnyD and Girl Scout Cookies.
—Li Goldstein, Bon Appétit, 10 Mar. 2023
Videos that bastardize neighborhood names, or cluelessly treat storied establishments like new discoveries.
—Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 20 Aug. 2022
To bastardize the bands Pablo Cruise or Yes, love will always find a way.
—Outside Online, 13 Feb. 2021
What does a profession license mean if you’re allowed to bastardize the court system that way.
—Dave Boucher, Detroit Free Press, 13 Dec. 2020
As a carcass decomposes, the bacteria in the body itself runs rampant, producing its signature stink and bastardizing the soil’s microbiome.
—Matt Simon, Wired, 21 Jan. 2020
The initial fear that the band was going to make a killing on wading-pool-deep music and basically bastardize country music was way off-base.
—Chuck Yarborough, cleveland, 8 Jan. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bastardize
Verb
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In their world, which is also ours, selfhood has degraded into taste, preferences, demography, and outlays of attention and money.—
Katy Waldman,
New Yorker,
20 Oct. 2025
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Unsubstantiated rumors still swirl online and in county meetings that wind, solar and battery storage facilities will degrade the environment, destroy rural culture and lower property values.—
Sophie Hartley,
IndyStar,
20 Oct. 2025
Verb
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But in 2023, Meloni’s government struck an agreement with Albania – a non-EU country – to build controversial migrant detention centers and subvert the EU agreement.—
Chelsea Bailey,
CNN Money,
19 Oct. 2025
-
The ruched toe boxes are another style that playfully subverts the classic loafer design, offering an unfussy ease that helps soften more masculine tailoring.—
Jake Henry Smith,
Glamour,
17 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Listers understands how technology can corrupt our leisure activities.—
Tyler Austin Harper,
The Atlantic,
20 Oct. 2025
-
Researchers had previously assumed attackers would need to corrupt a specific percentage of the data, which, for larger models would be millions of documents.—
Beatrice Nolan,
Fortune,
14 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Far from cheapening or diluting Ibsen’s themes and conflicts, the action revitalizes them.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
17 Oct. 2025
-
Without the requirement to protect majority-minority districts, Republicans would have far greater freedom to redraw congressional maps in ways that dilute the voting power of Black and other minority communities—areas that tend to favor Democrats.—
Alia Shoaib,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Pressing for payment could humiliate people, who often arrive with their extended families, Parmar explained, and in a community this close-knit, that could mean losing dozens of patients, including many of the Medicaid patients who keep the clinic afloat.—
Helen Ouyang,
The Atlantic,
21 Oct. 2025
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By the time the cameras stopped clicking and the newsmen flew home, Kentucky had been humiliated in the national press, the onlooker’s violence both disputed and affirmed in accounts of this day.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
16 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Dogville, from 2003, is an experimental Lars von Trier film shot on a stage set in which Kidman plays a woman debased and abused by the inhabitants of a small town.—
Wendell Steavenson,
Vogue,
8 Oct. 2025
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Freddy Krueger debases the suburban American ideal through the dreams of teenagers in Nightmare on Elm Street.—
Rachel Raposas,
PEOPLE,
29 Sep. 2025
Verb
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While the very high end of the market is strong, the aspirational luxury market has weakened due to economic pressures.—
Rosemary Feitelberg,
Footwear News,
17 Oct. 2025
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Far from expanding opportunity, this excessive wealth locks millions out of the chance to innovate and build, weakening growth for all.—
Scott Ellis,
Time,
17 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Almost every building is damaged or destroyed beyond repair.—
Kara Fox,
CNN Money,
19 Oct. 2025
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According to Craig Croucher of the Bot Builders, around 300 spectators turned out to watch the robots destroy each other.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
19 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Bastardize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bastardize. Accessed 25 Oct. 2025.
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