as in degraded
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
bastardize the art form by adapting it to popular taste
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Recent Examples of bastardized
Our ideals have been bastardized.
—
William Mersey, New York Daily News, 8 Apr. 2026
Short’s personality and complexity, attributes long discarded as her life became bastardized, stand in stark contrast to the inhumanity of her death.
—Nathan Smith, Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2026
The events meant to bring us together, like the Super Bowl or March Madness, have been bastardized into vehicles for ruinous addiction.
—MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Nov. 2025
William Mersey, New York Daily News, 8 Apr. 2026
Short’s personality and complexity, attributes long discarded as her life became bastardized, stand in stark contrast to the inhumanity of her death.
—Nathan Smith, Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2026
The events meant to bring us together, like the Super Bowl or March Madness, have been bastardized into vehicles for ruinous addiction.
—MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bastardized
Verb
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At Vermejo Park Ranch, purchased in the mid-1990s from Pennzoil and spanning more than 870 square miles near the New Mexico-Colorado border, Turner’s team has worked to restore mountainsides and valleys degraded by overgrazing, mining and clear-cutting.—
Susan Montoya Bryan,
Los Angeles Times,
12 May 2026
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His moves to West Ham United and Milan have badly degraded the 33-year-old’s stock.—
Sebastian Stafford-Bloor,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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An independent redistricting commission — transparent, balanced and insulated from the very political pressures that have corrupted this process.—
Daryl Campbell,
Sun Sentinel,
6 May 2026
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In an era when youth sports can sometimes feel corrupted by money, pressure and adult ego, the Lee Corso Legacy Fund serves as a reminder of what sports are supposed to be about in the first place.—
Mike Bianchi,
The Orlando Sentinel,
6 May 2026
Verb
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The Constitution has been perverted in ways by administrations on both sides of the aisle to facilitate military action.—
Rebecca Noel,
Charlotte Observer,
6 Feb. 2026
-
Organized sports can easily be perverted.—
Louisa Thomas,
New Yorker,
1 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Kardashian subverted expectations at the 2021 Met Gala by arriving in a face-covering body stocking by Balenciaga.—
Catherine Santino,
PEOPLE,
2 May 2026
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There are parts of his past that he’s really subverted, some quite painful but undeniable on his part.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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However, when the researchers adjusted the findings for other factors that can affect risk for the conditions, known as confounders — such as genetic and familial influences and the reasons for taking antidepressants — most links significantly weakened or disappeared.—
Kristen Rogers,
CNN Money,
14 May 2026
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Starmer’s authority weakened after Labor’s poor performance in recent elections, blamed on policy missteps, economic struggles, and the prime minister’s controversial decisions, including appointing an ambassador with ties to Jeffrey Epstein.—
Pan Pylas,
Los Angeles Times,
13 May 2026
Verb
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Human oversight was diluted due to a belief that the AI agent was working perfectly.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
17 May 2026
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In rare cases of very low sodium intake or excessive fluid loss, people can develop hyponatremia, Young explains, a condition in which sodium levels in the blood become dangerously diluted.—
Daryl Austin,
USA Today,
16 May 2026
Verb
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Despite evidence that the two got along well enough, rumors spread in Vienna after Mozart’s death that Salieri had poisoned him.—
Michael Schulman,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
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Two lethal mushroom species, the death cap (Amanita phalloides) and western destroying angel (Amanita ocreata), have poisoned at least 47 people and claimed four lives since mid-November, according to the California Department of Public Health.—
Alexandra Koch,
FOXNews.com,
13 May 2026
Verb
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The leaders best positioned through each of these disruptions were not the ones calling us when the situation deteriorated, but those who had already built their structure during the quiet years.—
Dwayne Chauhan,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2026
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Over the course of the next hour, the weather deteriorated rapidly.—
Sacbee.com,
Sacbee.com,
14 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bastardized.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bastardized. Accessed 20 May. 2026.
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