degrade

verb

de·​grade di-ˈgrād 

dē-

degraded; degrading; degrades

transitive verb

1

a

: to lower in grade, rank, or status : demote

b

: to strip of rank or honors

c

: to lower to an inferior or less effective level

degrade the image quality

d

: to scale down in desirability or salability

2

a

: to bring to low esteem or into disrepute

Their actions have degraded their profession.

comments intended to humiliate and degrade others

b

: to drag down in moral or intellectual character : corrupt

… impelled, by misfortune and misery, to the vice that has degraded them.

—Charles Dickens

3

: to impair in respect to some physical property

material degraded by exposure to sunlight

4

geology : to wear down by erosion

degraded the hillside

5

chemistry : to reduce the complexity of (a chemical compound) : decompose

intransitive verb

1

: to pass from a higher grade or class to a lower

causes the meat to degrade in quality

2

of a chemical compound : to become reduced in complexity

plastics that don't easily degrade

degrader noun

Did you know?

In Shakespeare's King Lear, the old king is degraded by the daughters he has given his kingdom to. He finds it degrading, for instance, when the number of his guards is reduced from 100 to 25. His degradation seems complete when, after going mad, he's reduced to living in the wilderness. As you can see, degrade is often a synonym for humiliate.

Synonyms

• break
• bust
• demote
• disrate
• downgrade
• reduce

Examples of degrade in a Sentence

The group accuses the company of degrading women in its ads.

He felt degraded by their remarks.

Scratches on a camera lens will degrade the image.

Pollution has degraded air quality.

Recent Examples on the Web

Alarming figures indicate that 40% of the earth’s land is already degraded, impacting half of the human population and half of the global GDP, underscoring the severity of the challenge faced by communities today. —Sanam Mahoozi, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025

There are a number of ways that these tiny pieces of plastic can become airborne, including from sea spray, textiles sitting in landfills interacting with the wind, degrading tires as people drive, and more.7 Wildfire smoke is another common way people breathe in microplastics, Johnson said. —Brian Mastroianni, Health, 7 Jan. 2025

Key to the complaint, first brought in September 2023, is the allegation that Amazon degrades product selection and search quality for shoppers. —Kate Nishimura, Sourcing Journal, 3 Jan. 2025

Manufacturers and unit workshops were also experimenting with drones that fly and chase targets with the help of A.I., a development that, once fielded, could allow drones to hit moving targets without human guidance if their radio link to a pilot was degraded or jammed. —C.j. Chivers Robert Fass Krish Seenivasan Steven Szczesniak, New York Times, 31 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French degrader, from Late Latin degradare, from Latin de- + gradus step, grade — more at grade entry 1

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Kids Definition

degrade

verb

de·​grade di-ˈgrād 

1

: to reduce from a higher to a lower rank or degree : deprive of an office or position

2

: to lower the character of : debase

3

: to reduce the complexity of a chemical compound : decompose

degradable

-ˈgrād-ə-bəl

adjective

degrader noun

Medical Definition

degrade

transitive verb

de·​grade di-ˈgrād 

degraded; degrading

: to reduce the complexity of (a chemical compound) by splitting off one or more groups or larger components : decompose

cellulose is degraded by the action of some bacteria

intransitive verb

: to undergo chemical degradation