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Definition of Debase
1. Verb. Corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality. "Corrupt the morals"
Generic synonyms: Alter, Change, Modify
Specialized synonyms: Carnalise, Carnalize, Sensualise, Sensualize, Infect, Lead Astray, Lead Off, Poison, Bastardise, Bastardize, Suborn
Derivative terms: Corruptible, Corruption, Corruptive, Debasement, Debauch, Debauchee, Debaucher, Debauchery, Demoralisation, Demoralization, Depravation, Depravity, Perversive, Pervert, Profanation, Subversion
2. Verb. Lower in value by increasing the base-metal content.
Category relationships: Metallurgy
Generic synonyms: Devalue
Derivative terms: Alloy, Debaser
3. Verb. Corrupt, debase, or make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance; often by replacing valuable ingredients with inferior ones. "Adulterate liquor"
Related verbs: Extend, Stretch
Generic synonyms: Corrupt, Spoil
Specialized synonyms: Water Down, Doctor, Doctor Up, Sophisticate
Derivative terms: Adulterant, Adulterant, Adulterator, Adulterator, Debasement, Dilution
Definition of Debase
1. v. t. To reduce from a higher to a lower state or grade of worth, dignity, purity, station, etc.; to degrade; to lower; to deteriorate; to abase; as, to debase the character by crime; to debase the mind by frivolity; to debase style by vulgar words.
Definition of Debase
1. Verb. (transitive) To lower in character, quality, or value; to degrade. ¹
2. Verb. (transitive archaic) To lower in position or rank.''Oxford English Dictionary'', 2nd ed., 1989. ¹
3. Verb. (transitive) To lower the value of (a currency) by reducing the amount of valuable metal in the coins. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Debase
1. to lower in character, quality, or value [v -BASED, -BASING, -BASES]
Lexicographical Neighbors of Debase
Literary usage of Debase
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. United States Supreme Court Reports by Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, United States Supreme Court (1912)
"That Congress had debased the coinage one sixteenth would not establish the right
to further debase it; would, at most, indicate that the power to regulate ..."
2. History of England from the Accession of James I. to the Outbreak of the by Samuel Rawson Gardiner (1884)
"The free gift had come to nothing. A resolution to issue Proposal to . , . ,, ,.
r . . Privy seals in the old way was not persisted in.3 For debase the a ..."
3. English Usage: Studies in the History and Uses of English Words and Phrases by John Lesslie Hall (1917)
"XXV DEMEAN - debase, DEGRADE ONESELF Demeaned himself by marrying a French ...
The use of demean in the sense of "debase or degrade oneself" has some vogue ..."
4. Southey's Common-place Book by Robert Southey (1876)
"So bad as Pope's Homer it cannot by any possibility have been, ie it cannot so
misrepresent and debase the original. John Howe. MB. ..."
5. Annals of the American Revolution: Or, A Record of the Causes and Events by Jedidiah Morse (1824)
"... derogatory to the dignity of the crown of this realm, tending to debase the
spirit and subvert the discipline of his Majesty's armies, and to expose his ..."
6. Select Discourses by John Smith, Simon Patrick, John Worthington (1821)
"Low and particular ends and interests both debase and straiten a man's spirit:
the universal, highest, and last end both ennobles and enlarges it. ..."
7. The History of Herodotus: A New English Version by Herodotus (1875)
"... they seem to have been light in weight and of debase: metal. (See upon the
whole subject of ancient coins, Col. ..."
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