How to Use demote in a Sentence

demote

verb
  • Teachers can choose to demote a student to a lower grade.
  • The army major was demoted to captain.
  • But in the store it now looks slightly demoted, on sale at 40 percent off.
    Andre Aciman, Town & Country, 24 Sep. 2018
  • The move marked the second time Sisco – one of the team’s top prospects -- has been demoted to the minors in the past month.
    Eduardo A. Encina, baltimoresun.com, 13 July 2018
  • If a story is identified as false, Facebook will demote them in the news feed and will warn users who try to post those stories.
    Casey Newton, The Verge, 4 Oct. 2018
  • This is the same body that decided by a vote in 2006 to demote Plutofrom planet to dwarf planet.
    Korey Haynes, Discover Magazine, 12 Oct. 2018
  • Another employee was demoted for complaining about the change.
    Katie Honan, WSJ, 11 Oct. 2018
  • This was Colorado’s first full week since demoting erstwhile ace Jon Gray to the minor leagues, a move that’s still a little curious.
    SI.com, 10 July 2018
  • With Ryan Walker down, Doval was given his first save opportunity since being demoted from the closer’s role.
    Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 20 Sep. 2024
  • A few weeks later, Warden Virgil McMullen was demoted and transferred to another unit.
    Keri Blakinger, Houston Chronicle, 11 July 2018
  • The proposal for the science adviser’s office would effectively demote the adviser.
    Umair Irfan, Vox, 28 Sep. 2018
  • He was demoted to Triple-A and hasn’t pitched in the major leagues since.
    Dallas News, 10 Feb. 2020
  • In a span of six games, his ERA jumped to 6.00 and he was demoted from the closer role he’d been signed to fill.
    Maria Torres, latimes.com, 15 June 2019
  • He was demoted to Low-A, in Greenville, and didn’t fare much better.
    Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 12 June 2023
  • The next month, Sheriff Scott demoted him to work the graveyard shift as a jailer.
    Jerry Mitchell Rory Doyle, New York Times, 19 July 2023
  • Five of her six school board colleagues voted to demote her last week.
    Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, 1 Apr. 2021
  • By the 1950s the Garden had been demoted from glamour queen to has-been, the Norma Desmond of hotels.
    Lesley M.m. Blume, Town & Country, 25 Feb. 2019
  • That's why Hinch has no plans to demote the 19-year MLB veteran.
    Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press, 2 May 2021
  • In the memoir, Jackson did not address the prospect of being demoted by the Navy.
    Alex Horton, Washington Post, 7 Mar. 2024
  • The 26-year-old lefty was the A’s Opening Day starter last season and had a good start, then struggled and was demoted to the minors.
    Laurence Miedema, The Mercury News, 25 Feb. 2024
  • Buttigieg demoted the chief and hired a white replacement.
    Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 16 Dec. 2019
  • And after being sent down once in early May, he was demoted again near the end of June.
    Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2024
  • Since last April, the Reds have recalled/demoted him six times, four times already this year.
    Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, 27 June 2019
  • Cabrera didn’t hit 100 innings in the big leagues and was demoted to Triple A for a month due to command issues.
    Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 19 Feb. 2024
  • Next came the 2003 suicide of the French chef Bernard Loiseau, who believed that his restaurant was being demoted from three stars to two.
    Julia Moskin, New York Times, 12 Sep. 2023
  • Doval had been demoted, not just from the closer’s role but out of the big leagues altogether.
    Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 9 Aug. 2024
  • At first, the larger dolphins were classified as their own species, but in 1884 they were demoted to a sub-species.
    Erika I. Ritchie, Orange County Register, 11 July 2024
  • While there’s been an internal push to demote him to the second unit, Vogel has resisted the push.
    Dan Woike, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2022
  • My father, a high school principal in Belle Glade since 1955, was demoted to the junior high, with his salary slashed.
    Ron McCurdy With Cari Lynn, WSJ, 15 June 2019
  • Miller framed the move to demote his client as a disheartening sign of problems carried over from past administrations.
    Keri Blakinger, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'demote.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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