transitive verb
-·based′, -·bas′ing to make lower in value, quality, character, dignity, etc.; cheapen
Origin of debase
de- + base, aphetic from abase
This building has been debased.
To debase is defined as to cheapen, or make lower in value or quality.
An example of debase is to lower the value of a building by spray painting it with graffiti.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"debase." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 September 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/debase>.
APA Style
debase. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/debase
debase
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"debase." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 September 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/debase>.
APA Style
debase. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/debase
debase
transitive verb
de·based, de·bas·ing, de·bas·esTo lower in character, quality, or value; degrade.
Origin of debase
de- base 2Related Forms:
- de·base′ment
noun
- de·bas′er
noun
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"debase." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 September 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/debase>.
APA Style
debase. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/debase
Verb
(third-person singular simple present debases, present participle debasing, simple past and past participle debased)
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"debase." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 September 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/debase>.
APA Style
debase. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/debase
Sentence Examples
- His need of money led him to debase the currency eighty-one times between 1350 and 1355.
- If heroes could so debase themselves, can we wonder if men who were not heroes lent themselves to every sort of villainy ?
- Although his resources had been so completely drained that he had been forced to melt the silver in his palaces and to debase the coinage, his energy soon brought back the national prosperity.
- His chief financial expedient was to debase, or rather ruin, the currency by issuing copper tokens redeemable in better times; but it was no fault of his that Charles XII., during his absence, flung upon the market too enormous an amount of this copper money for Gertz to deal with.