debauch

Synonym Chooser

How is the word debauch different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of debauch are corrupt, debase, deprave, pervert, and vitiate. While all these words mean "to cause deterioration or lowering in quality or character," debauch implies a debasing through sensual indulgence.

the long stay on a tropical isle had debauched the ship's crew

When would corrupt be a good substitute for debauch?

While the synonyms corrupt and debauch are close in meaning, corrupt implies loss of soundness, purity, or integrity.

the belief that bureaucratese corrupts the language

Where would debase be a reasonable alternative to debauch?

The synonyms debase and debauch are sometimes interchangeable, but debase implies a loss of position, worth, value, or dignity.

commercialism has debased the holiday

When could deprave be used to replace debauch?

Although the words deprave and debauch have much in common, deprave implies moral deterioration by evil thoughts or influences.

the claim that society is depraved by pornography

When is pervert a more appropriate choice than debauch?

While in some cases nearly identical to debauch, pervert implies a twisting or distorting from what is natural or normal.

perverted the original goals of the institute

When might vitiate be a better fit than debauch?

The words vitiate and debauch are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, vitiate implies a destruction of purity, validity, or effectiveness by allowing entrance of a fault or defect.

a foreign policy vitiated by partisanship

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 debauch The dark comedy follows a wealthy socialite, Stacy (Cherry), and a struggling writer, Becky (Chalotra), who are brought together at a lavish, debauched New York party. Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 14 Aug. 2025 The atmosphere, at once debauched and sombre, felt like a wake, one attendee said. Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 18 Apr. 2025 But as commercialization took hold, the event metastasized into a pit of hard drugs, drunkenness, and debauch a world apart from its bohemian origins. Charlie Campbell, TIME, 17 Mar. 2025 In season two, when Mike White’s series decamped to Sicily, the credits riffed on Italian frescoes that got increasingly debauched — with a beat drop from opera to EDM. Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2025 Life is debauched and consistent, until that handsome twentysomething gent wanders into Lee’s favorite watering hole. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Nov. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for debauch
Verb
  • Today’s batteries depend on scarce resources like lithium and cobalt and degrade over time.
    Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 10 Sep. 2025
  • These perform well at low to medium heat, but begin to degrade around 500 °F, potentially releasing harmful fumes that can pose health risks.
    Katie Rosenhouse, Southern Living, 8 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The additional time exposed to harsh radiation is, not surprisingly, corrupting JunoCam's images.
    Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 12 Sep. 2025
  • The baffling Windows 11 update bug that corrupted SSDs now appears to be linked to storage drives running pre-release firmware.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 9 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Thousands of multivitamin bottles sold on Amazon and other websites have been recalled over a risk of serious injury or death by poisoning.
    Joel Thayer, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Sep. 2025
  • During World War II, Husseini became a Nazi collaborator, broadcasting propaganda into the Arab world, touring death camps with his friend Heinrich Himmler, recruiting SS divisions, and hatching a plot to poison Tel Aviv’s water supply.
    Sean Durns, The Washington Examiner, 12 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • For decades, bartenders have been defaming the Mai Tai, debasing it, making and selling versions of the drink that were childish and incomplex, saccharine and flat.
    Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 13 Sep. 2025
  • 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
Verb
  • Continually moving the goalposts or using testing to humiliate or control can cause relational harm.
    Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2025
  • And Sacks, a PayPal Mafia member and veteran Silicon Valley investor, is just the sort of titan of industry this town routinely devours and humiliates — from Rex Tillerson to, well, Elon Musk.
    Ben Smith, semafor.com, 8 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Foreign powers such as Russia and China, which challenge America and its allies from Europe to the Middle East to Taiwan and the South China Sea, have long been accused of exploiting such divisions through disinformation campaigns that inflame tensions and weaken confidence in American governance.
    Amir Daftari, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 Sep. 2025
  • But around the equinoxes, the natural buffer weakens.
    Daisy Dobrijevic, Space.com, 12 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • 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
  • Aware of this injustice, companies are hiring lawyers and influence peddlers to bolster their MAGA credentials and pervert traditional law enforcement.
    Martha McHardy, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • Those tactics are also used to generate funds meant to help the regime subvert international sanctions and develop its nuclear weapons programs, according to the US government.
    Nino Paoli, Fortune, 14 Sep. 2025
  • Consistently subverting audience expectations, Don’t Breathe features an incredibly twisted game of cat-and-mouse.
    Yasmeen Hamadeh, PEOPLE, 13 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Debauch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/debauch. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.

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