cheapening

verb

present participle of cheapen
1
as in reducing
to diminish the price or value of a glutted market cheapened cranberries to the point where they were selling for less than what it cost to grow them

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2
as in degrading
to lower in character, dignity, or quality a politician who would cheapen herself by caving in to lobbyists

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in humiliating
to reduce to a lower standing in one's own eyes or in others' eyes she really cheapens herself by shamelessly pursuing men like that

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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 cheapening The two are different in kind, and cheapening the first does nothing for the second. — Dr. Aditya Vikram Kashyap, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026 There was only ever one copy of the album created, an intentional choice by RZA, the leader of the group, and Dutch Moroccan rapper and producer Cilvaringz, who felt the streaming age was cheapening music. — Tribune News Service, Baltimore Sun, 14 Jan. 2026 Far from cheapening or diluting Ibsen’s themes and conflicts, the action revitalizes them. — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cheapening
  1. reducing
  2. degrading
  3. humiliating
  4. lowering
  5. corrupting
  6. discrediting
  7. weakening
  8. embarrassing
Verb
  • China, too, has relied heavily on its own massive oil stockpiles, while simultaneously drastically reducing its crude imports.
    — David Goldman, CNN Money, 22 Aug. 2026
  • That’s the international initiative aimed at reducing the number of severe injury and fatal crashes to zero.
    — Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of reducing
Verb
  • Reducing thermal resistance within the transistor while preserving electrical performance, and efficiently moving heat away from high-power transistor regions without degrading RF performance.
    — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 15 Aug. 2026
  • The Kremlin has also started to systematically target Ukrainian ports and ships in the Black Sea in hopes of degrading the infrastructure that supports the country’s agricultural exports.
    — Alexander Gabuev, Foreign Affairs, 31 July 2026
Definition of degrading
Verb
  • The Iranians are now setting the terms of this conflict and are routinely humiliating the American president.
    — Tom Nichols, The Atlantic, 8 July 2026
  • Instead of demanding personal fealty or humiliating them to assert personal dominance, Lincoln absorbed their egos and occasional slights, elevating their talents and turning his fiercest political adversaries into his most devoted champions.
    — Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 24 June 2026
Definition of humiliating
Verb
  • California lawmakers are pushing a package of energy bills aimed at lowering electricity costs and making clean energy more accessible as residents continue to face some of the highest utility rates in the country.
    — Darrielle Fair, CBS News, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Regularly lowering sonar tools and mechanical sensors allows operators to map shifting cavern walls, track structural shrinkage, and inspect steel casings and cement seals for fractures.
    — Siddharth Misra, Fortune, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of lowering
Verb
  • The judge also said that Nine PBS must find a third party, such as a former OSS worker, who can help retrieve the data within 30 days and without sharing or corrupting data belonging to other OSS clients.
    — Scharon Harding, ArsTechnica, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Validation rules, schema standards and completeness checks at the entry point prevent bad master data from corrupting everything downstream.
    — Jacqueline DeStefano-Tangorra, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of corrupting
Verb
  • The release of his diaries though, revealed some thoroughly discrediting and upsetting details about Fauci's private beliefs.
    — Ian Miller OutKick, FOXNews.com, 11 Aug. 2026
  • Kiryl Pazniak, 49, who hosted a popular political show on YouTube, has been convicted on the charges of discrediting Belarus and forming an extremist organization, the group said — accusations widely used by authorities to stifle critical voices.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 2 July 2026
Definition of discrediting
Verb
  • Anderson said population and labor-force declines, along with the Bay Area’s high housing costs, are weakening both the supply of workers and demand for them in many traditional industries.
    — George Avalos, Mercury News, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Rather than weakening the rule, the authors recommended strengthening it by passing the Roadless Area Conservation Act, which would turn the agency regulations into federal law.
    — Dan Peck, ABC News, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of weakening
Verb
  • College students should not have to worry about their parents embarrassing them to an audience of thousands.
    — Mary Frances Ruskell, CNN Money, 19 Aug. 2026
  • Many of the voters of the other political parties have been lending him their support, partly in the hope of embarrassing Farage.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of embarrassing

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Cite this Entry

“Cheapening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cheapening. Accessed 26 Aug. 2026.

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