debauch

Synonym Chooser

How is the word debauch different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of debauch are corrupt, debase, deprave, pervert, and vitiate. While all these words mean "to cause deterioration or lowering in quality or character," debauch implies a debasing through sensual indulgence.

the long stay on a tropical isle had debauched the ship's crew

When would corrupt be a good substitute for debauch?

While the synonyms corrupt and debauch are close in meaning, corrupt implies loss of soundness, purity, or integrity.

the belief that bureaucratese corrupts the language

Where would debase be a reasonable alternative to debauch?

The synonyms debase and debauch are sometimes interchangeable, but debase implies a loss of position, worth, value, or dignity.

commercialism has debased the holiday

When could deprave be used to replace debauch?

Although the words deprave and debauch have much in common, deprave implies moral deterioration by evil thoughts or influences.

the claim that society is depraved by pornography

When is pervert a more appropriate choice than debauch?

While in some cases nearly identical to debauch, pervert implies a twisting or distorting from what is natural or normal.

perverted the original goals of the institute

When might vitiate be a better fit than debauch?

The words vitiate and debauch are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, vitiate implies a destruction of purity, validity, or effectiveness by allowing entrance of a fault or defect.

a foreign policy vitiated by partisanship

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of debauch But as commercialization took hold, the event metastasized into a pit of hard drugs, drunkenness, and debauch a world apart from its bohemian origins. Charlie Campbell, TIME, 17 Mar. 2025 Life is debauched and consistent, until that handsome twentysomething gent wanders into Lee’s favorite watering hole. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Nov. 2024 But as commercialization took hold, the event metastasized into a pit of hard drugs, drunkenness, and debauch a world apart from its bohemian origins. Charlie Campbell, TIME, 17 Mar. 2025 In season two, when Mike White’s series decamped to Sicily, the credits riffed on Italian frescoes that got increasingly debauched — with a beat drop from opera to EDM. Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2025 Life is debauched and consistent, until that handsome twentysomething gent wanders into Lee’s favorite watering hole. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Nov. 2024 That doesn’t seem especially forbidden or debauched. Chris Klimek, Vulture, 17 July 2024 Instead, Mixtape Pluto is subterranean and nocturnal, hedonistic one minute and aching with regrets the next, debauched but wounded. Christopher R. Weingarten, Rolling Stone, 23 Sep. 2024 Life is debauched and consistent, until that handsome twentysomething gent wanders into Lee’s favorite watering hole. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 10 Sep. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for debauch
Verb
  • Government lawyers argue that Meta's services have degraded in quality in part because of its dominant position in the marketplace.
    Bobby Allyn, NPR, 13 Apr. 2025
  • According to the National Institutes of Health, ALS progressively degrades, then kills nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
    Natalie Neysa Alund, USA Today, 11 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Stuart Miller, Boynton Beach Seven memorable words Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
    Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 14 Apr. 2025
  • The show followed an ensemble of one-percenters at the titular resort in Hawaii, observing how their privilege blinds them to reality and corrupts everyone around them, leading to conflicts, cruelty, and, eventually, violence.
    Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 8 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Until Henry momentarily excuses himself from the table, that is, and the person or persons behind these winky-wink messages tell her to poison Henry ASAP or the menacing guy currently hiding in her apartment will kill her boy.
    David Fear, Rolling Stone, 10 Apr. 2025
  • Calls to poison control centers for pediatric melatonin ingestion increased 530 percent between 2012 and 2021, according to one analysis published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
    ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 8 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • His illuminating backstage account of cable news describes thoughtful journalists debasing themselves in their scramble to retain straying viewers.
    Daniel Immerwahr, The New Yorker, 20 Jan. 2025
  • This is what distinguishes bitcoin from every other modern financial asset – like gold, it cannot be debased by fiat or easily censored.
    Dave Birnbaum, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • There was a period when Broadway creators thought the only way to get a performance was to humiliate a person.
    Mark Seliger, Vulture, 7 Apr. 2025
  • An investigation of at least eight fraternities found that members humiliated students through means like beating them with paddles or forcing potential recruits to eat live fish and drink urine, according to court filings.
    Dan Belson, Baltimore Sun, 3 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Agreeing to a pick swap with the Lynx weakened the value of the pick that the Sky traded away.
    Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 14 Apr. 2025
  • One by one, the sectors defect, and, eventually, the leader may weaken and their government may fall.
    Julia Angwin, New Yorker, 12 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • The only conspiracy is what Bove and Bondi are engaged in, perverting a prosecution for their political gain.
    New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 26 Mar. 2025
  • Andrew faces charges of obstructing a coroner in the execution of his or her duty, as well as doing an act tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice.
    Gabrielle Rockson, People.com, 21 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Project 2025 is explicitly derived from the processes used by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to subvert his country’s democracy and by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to subvert the inchoate democratic movement after the fall of the Soviet Union.
    DP Opinion, Denver Post, 4 Apr. 2025
  • With a limited color palette and very spare design, the show subverts the commonplace elements of an office and invents a haunting visual language all its own that creeps you out while drawing you in.
    Charlotte Collins, Architectural Digest, 20 Mar. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Debauch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/debauch. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on debauch

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!