1
as in to reduce
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to deteriorate
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
degrading the school's animal mascot with a silly costume
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to humiliate
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in insulting
intended to make a person or thing seem of little importance or value
made degrading comments about his so-called friend behind his back
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in reducing
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in deteriorating
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
degrading the school's animal mascot with a silly costume
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in humiliating
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of degrade
James Folta, Literary Hub, 26 Sep. 2025
That’s the really terrifying part of this particular edit — AI alterations that exist to serve censorship and degrade creators’ original storytelling.
—Brian Welk, IndieWire, 25 Sep. 2025
ArsTechnica, 14 July 2025
Another study in Frontiers in Neuroscience found that even moderate, chronic sleep restriction produces cumulative effects, subtly degrading decision quality and emotional regulation over time.
—Julian Hayes Ii, Forbes.com, 10 July 2025
Dave Smith, Fortune, 2 Sep. 2025
Airstrikes, however, won’t be any more effective at degrading the cartels or diminishing the flow of drugs into the United States than ground operations would be.
—Daniel R. Depetris, Mercury News, 30 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for degrade
Verb
Large language models are unleashing a flood of slop that is threatening to degrade or even kill the internet.
—James Folta, Literary Hub, 26 Sep. 2025
That’s the really terrifying part of this particular edit — AI alterations that exist to serve censorship and degrade creators’ original storytelling.
—Brian Welk, IndieWire, 25 Sep. 2025
Adjective
The result is an altering of the model weight by a whopping 216, degrading model accuracy from 80 percent to 0.1 percent, said Gururaj Saileshwar, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto and co-author of an academic paper demonstrating the attack.
—ArsTechnica, 14 July 2025
Another study in Frontiers in Neuroscience found that even moderate, chronic sleep restriction produces cumulative effects, subtly degrading decision quality and emotional regulation over time.
—Julian Hayes Ii, Forbes.com, 10 July 2025
Verb
Are officials degrading citizens’ Internet access to sell them VPNs?
—Dave Smith, Fortune, 2 Sep. 2025
Airstrikes, however, won’t be any more effective at degrading the cartels or diminishing the flow of drugs into the United States than ground operations would be.
—Daniel R. Depetris, Mercury News, 30 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for degrade
Recent Examples of Synonyms for degrade
Adjective
-
To educate all of them in similar ways is insulting, and silly.—
Josh Hammer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
23 Sep. 2025
-
Perkins said the drink bore the insulting message.—
Victoria Moorwood,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
22 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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For decades, Indigenous leaders and advocates across the state and country have been trying to convince school communities that the use of such mascots and logos are inappropriate, demeaning and harmful.—
Frank Vaisvilas,
jsonline.com,
29 Aug. 2025
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One detainee who submitted an account to the court that was referenced by Gregorio described sleeping in foul-smelling facilities and facing demeaning treatment by ICE agents.—
Molly Crane-Newman,
New York Daily News,
12 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have strong antivirus software installed on all your devices.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
27 Sep. 2025
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Servers running on motherboards sold by Supermicro contain high-severity vulnerabilities that can allow hackers to remotely install malicious firmware that runs even before the operating system, making infections impossible to detect or remove without unusual protections in place.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
24 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Capítulo 0 is no DTmF, but that characterization shouldn’t be seen as derogatory.—
Juan J. Arroyo,
Rolling Stone,
26 Sep. 2025
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This is a derogatory term for robots and AI technology.—
Anna Kleiber,
jsonline.com,
24 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The man also had a history of being abusive to partners, the Morning Herald reported.—
Gabrielle Rockson,
PEOPLE,
29 Sep. 2025
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The strong aroma of abusive conduct in the Comey case might incline the judge, Michael Nachmanoff, to adopt a more skeptical approach to the charges.—
Ruth Marcus,
New Yorker,
26 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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And there would be lots of soldiers around, either Army or National Guard, and the people who were civilians would be young people, very disparaging about the military.—
Steve Baltin,
Forbes.com,
24 Aug. 2025
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The 2023 Economic Report Of The President published in March of 2023 was relatively disparaging of cryptoassets and DLTs.—
Lawrence Wintermeyer,
Forbes,
5 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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The armed group controls tens of thousands of acres of coca plantations and has gained significant political leverage as President Gustavo Petro’s Administration scrambles to secure agreements with armed groups critical to advancing Colombia’s broader peace talks and anti-narcotics efforts.—
Kayti Burt,
Time,
29 Sep. 2025
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Yet the medical center in central Ukraine, just 60 miles from the frontline, plays a critical role in the current Russia-Ukraine war, where traumatic brain injuries are all-too-common.—
Greg Myre,
NPR,
29 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Degrade.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/degrade. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.
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