as in reducing
to bring to a lower grade or rank
the court-martial's decision was to demote the officer responsible for the failed mission
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Recent Examples of demoting
Biden opted to make South Carolina the Democrats’ first-in-the-nation primary state, advancing Nevada and Michigan in the schedule while dropping Iowa and demoting New Hampshire.
—
Daniel C. Vock, Chicago Tribune, 27 May 2026
City Manager Maraskeshia Smith had previously suggested either cutting or demoting 37 current city employees.
—Ishani Desai, Sacbee.com, 18 May 2026
As far as Williams, the Mets aren’t considering demoting him.
—Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 24 Apr. 2026
Chennai buckled down Kolkata to 36-2 in the power play despite Ajinkya Rahane demoting himself down the order after the skipper struggled to give his team strong starts.
—ABC News, 14 Apr. 2026
Senior officials have discussed promoting Dhillon to one of the top department roles, while demoting Woodward, the sources added.
—Sarah N. Lynch, CBS News, 4 Apr. 2026
In late January, the president put border czar Tom Homan in charge of the crackdown, effectively demoting the Border Patrol’s Greg Bovino.
—Jason Ma, Fortune, 6 Mar. 2026
Tampa Bay gave up on Bradley at age 24, demoting him to the minors in his third MLB season and trading him to the Twins at last year’s deadline.
—Aaron Gleeman, New York Times, 2 Mar. 2026
Once Watson and Gordon are both back, Watson will probably be coming off the bench for the first time since mid-November, unless Adelman wants to make a more dramatic change by demoting someone from his starting lineup.
—Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 2 Mar. 2026
Daniel C. Vock, Chicago Tribune, 27 May 2026
City Manager Maraskeshia Smith had previously suggested either cutting or demoting 37 current city employees.
—Ishani Desai, Sacbee.com, 18 May 2026
As far as Williams, the Mets aren’t considering demoting him.
—Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 24 Apr. 2026
Chennai buckled down Kolkata to 36-2 in the power play despite Ajinkya Rahane demoting himself down the order after the skipper struggled to give his team strong starts.
—ABC News, 14 Apr. 2026
Senior officials have discussed promoting Dhillon to one of the top department roles, while demoting Woodward, the sources added.
—Sarah N. Lynch, CBS News, 4 Apr. 2026
In late January, the president put border czar Tom Homan in charge of the crackdown, effectively demoting the Border Patrol’s Greg Bovino.
—Jason Ma, Fortune, 6 Mar. 2026
Tampa Bay gave up on Bradley at age 24, demoting him to the minors in his third MLB season and trading him to the Twins at last year’s deadline.
—Aaron Gleeman, New York Times, 2 Mar. 2026
Once Watson and Gordon are both back, Watson will probably be coming off the bench for the first time since mid-November, unless Adelman wants to make a more dramatic change by demoting someone from his starting lineup.
—Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 2 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for demoting
Verb
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But after years of record investment by the state in such wildfire risk mitigation, two key money sources are drying up, potentially reducing the state’s annual budget for vegetation removal by hundreds of millions of dollars.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
30 May 2026
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Although reducing carbon pollution, which stays in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, is key to tackling the climate crisis, slashing methane has been seen as something of a low-hanging fruit.—
Laura Paddison,
CNN Money,
30 May 2026
Verb
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The Browns entered the offseason looking for a replacement after dismissing Kevin Stefanski, and Schwartz quickly emerged as a leading candidate after overseeing one of the NFL's top defenses.—
Alejandro Avila OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
3 June 2026
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On May 20, an $850,000 settlement was reached in the case in exchange for dismissing the complaint, according to a news release by Terr’s organization FIRE, which represented Bushart.—
Drew Pittock,
USA Today,
2 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Demoting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/demoting. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
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