as in degraded
having or showing lowered moral character or standards
a book that examines the debased character of the criminal mind
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in corrupted
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
we debase ourselves when we adopt the moral code and behavior of our despised enemies
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in humiliated
to reduce to a lower standing in one's own eyes or in others' eyes
our failure to win a single game completely debased us
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of debased
Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2025
Verb
Unlike bonds, which promise repayment of the primary investment at a future date, warranting demands for higher yields to offset inflation concerns, gold is a physical asset that cannot be debased by fiscal mismanagement or political interference.
—Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for debased
Adjective
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Developed by Toyota, the Sweep Energy Storage System rapidly switches each battery’s power flow on and off in mere microseconds, even when new batteries are connected to degraded or different capacity batteries.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
22 Aug. 2025
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Yet, as Beech pointed out, a lot of the material goods actually from the ‘70s are of a lower quality than earlier decades and also more degraded than the period relics of the ‘80s and ‘90s.—
Sarah Shachat,
IndieWire,
22 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Wallets, coins, and rings are carelessly passed around this little society, and messages are corrupted—from Orsino’s wooing of Olivia, which is accidentally undone by his own go-between, Viola, to the letters that deceive Malvolio.—
Helen Shaw,
New Yorker,
22 Aug. 2025
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There’s a lingering question of whether Dance Mom was a fraud from the beginning or if she gets corrupted as a result of becoming famous overnight as a regular guest on Late Night.—
Pamela McClintock,
HollywoodReporter,
21 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Inter Miami, clearly humiliated, let out its frustrations after the final whistle, when several Miami players, led by Luis Suarez, got into a scuffle with Seattle players.—
Michelle Kaufman,
Miami Herald,
1 Sep. 2025
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Having been humiliated at a college party, proceeds to use his tech skills to hack into the accounts of his peers and get revenge.—
Stewart Clarke,
Deadline,
27 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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The story of corrupt small-town cops taking on a former Marine was written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier and stars Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson and AnnaSophia Robb.—
Jack Smart,
PEOPLE,
7 Sep. 2025
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Delegates and party leaders described it as a corrupt and hypocritical maneuver from the governor.—
Nicole Nixon,
Sacbee.com,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The problem is that what gets cut isn’t always cosmetic, and sometimes the very safeguards designed to block harmful outputs, such as hate speech or criminal instructions, are weakened or lost.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
7 Sep. 2025
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Meanwhile, the latest jobs report confirmed that the labor market weakened sharply over the spring and summer and that sectors most affected by tariffs have seen the biggest losses.—
Jason Ma,
Fortune,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Eventually, however, Lowell’s ideas were discredited—Schiaparelli, once an ally, renounced them—and the world moved on.—
Jon Allsop,
New Yorker,
29 Aug. 2025
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By the end of the year, the cold fusion bubble had burst, the technology was discredited, and the concept relegated to bad spy fiction and conspiracy theories.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
29 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Some doctors might not even immediately recognize symptoms in a sick patient because vaccines have made many contagious diseases rare in this country, said Marty, the FIU expert.—
Michelle Marchante,
Miami Herald,
4 Sep. 2025
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However, some can, and those with risk factors can certainly become very sick.—
Katia Hetter,
CNN Money,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The real fiends were the ones who perverted science, who attacked this misunderstood giant out of fear, who branded him as something unholy and unworthy to exist, who gave him life but didn’t give him love.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
9 Sep. 2025
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Instead, the concept has been perverted to mean higher-ed grandees' exclusive right to determine who participates in scholarly life.—
Ilya Shapiro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
14 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Debased.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/debased. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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