DEGRADED Synonyms: 221 Similar and Opposite Words

degraded 1 of 2

adjective

di-ˈgrā-dəd

Definition of degraded

as in corrupt

having or showing lowered moral character or standards many observers deplored the fact that the city's festivities for Mardi Gras had become a degraded, drunken celebration

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

degraded

2 of 2

verb

past tense of degrade

as in reduced

to bring to a lower grade or rank the view that such a system degrades doctors to the status of medical employees who ultimately are not in charge of their patients' health care

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in deteriorated

to lower in character, dignity, or quality degrading the school's animal mascot with a silly costume

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in humiliated

to reduce to a lower standing in one's own eyes or in others' eyes the players degraded themselves with their crude antics off the field

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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 degraded

Adjective

Perhaps building on degraded land, sharing space with agriculture, and designing eco-friendly infrastructure. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 20 Aug. 2026 Meanwhile, degraded working conditions—see, the adjunctification discourse—make academic professionalization less and less sustainable. — Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 19 Aug. 2026

Verb

The invasion has raised European willingness to spend more on defense, and the fighting has badly degraded Russia’s armed forces. — Jennifer Kavanagh, Foreign Affairs, 28 Aug. 2026 Save Soil’s Soil Carbon Sponge analysis estimates that 52% of agricultural land is already degraded. — Shooka Bidarian, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for degraded

Recent Examples of Synonyms for degraded

Adjective

Many choose to make use of a corrupt brokerage system, where people with connections in the foreign ministry and other regime appendages facilitate large bribes for new, and sometimes fake, documentation.

— Andrew Nachemson, The Dial, 22 Sep. 2026
But already the thought tugged at me that the scales that had turned were not celestial, but legal, the workings of the same system condemned in the camp as corrupt and broken.

— J. B. MacKinnon, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of corrupt

Verb

In fact, a 2025 study found that 28 percent of people with telogen effluvium had reduced ferritin levels, while no one in the control group had a deficiency.

— Lindsey Bever, Washington Post, 26 Sep. 2026
By 2020, however, it had been reduced to a century-and-a-half-old ruin running a mile along the River Lee and in the midst of condo conversion.

— Robert Sullivan, Vogue, 26 Sep. 2026

Definition of reduced

Verb

Carney maintained this approach even as US-Canada relations deteriorated and the economic rift between the neighbors grew.

— Lex Harvey, CNN Money, 23 Sep. 2026
With no unionization company-wide, the efforts of distribution workers to seek any protections have been routinely dismissed while accidents and working conditions have deteriorated at many of their plants.

— Zach Dennis, Charlotte Observer, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of deteriorated

Verb

But the Saudis, humiliated by their losses in Yemen, seem likely to lash out.

— Kareem Fahim, New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2026
When she and the other part-time employees were told their positions were being eliminated, Valcarcel said she felt humiliated and disrespected.

— Verónica Egui Brito, Miami Herald, 18 Sep. 2026

Definition of humiliated

Adjective

Khadijah had insisted on nursing their newborn Aziza with her own breast milk, but Latif discovers that only a few pouches remain in the fridge and formula makes his baby sick.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2026
As well as being a holy site, Lourdes attracts around 3 million pilgrims a year, including approximately 60,000 sick and disabled pilgrims.

— ABC News, ABC News, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of sick

Verb

Andy Green spent all of Thursday night thinking about the time Jared Young was demoted from the Chicago Cubs to Triple-A on the final day of the minor league season.

— Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 18 Sep. 2026
Another is that, with the United States entangled in Iran and busy managing Venezuela, Cuba has simply been demoted as a priority.

— Will Freeman, Foreign Affairs, 17 Sep. 2026

Definition of demoted

Verb

The issue here is not with this project, which is building something artistic and beautiful, but with a broader, pro-AI tech culture that has discredited AI and its public image.

— James Folta, Literary Hub, 14 Sep. 2026
At the same time, the war on terror fueled an alarming rise in xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment and discredited the country’s political and foreign policy elites.

— Daniel Benjamin, Foreign Affairs, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of discredited

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Style

“Degraded.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/degraded. Accessed 30 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of degraded

adjective

verb

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