verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To lower in value or social position. transitive

   "Fred degrades himself by his behaviour."

2. 2
   lower the grade of something; reduce its worth wordnet
3. 3
   To reduce in quality or purity. ergative, intransitive

   "The DNA sample has degraded."

4. 4
   reduce the level of land, as by erosion wordnet
5. 5
   To reduce in altitude or magnitude, as hills and mountains; to wear down. transitive

Show 1 more definition

6. 6
   reduce in worth or character, usually verbally wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

demeandisgracetake downabaseabaseabash

Antonyms

All antonyms

aggradedignifyelevateexalt

Example

More examples

"Don't degrade yourself by telling such a lie."

Etymology

From Middle French dégrader.

Related phrases

degrade gracefully

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.