degrade

CEFRC1

/dɪˈɡɹeɪd/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To make something worse or less respected.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To reduce in quality or purity.

Examples

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

  • Batteries degrade over time.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
1
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /diˈɡɹeɪd/
  • /dɪˈɡɹæɪd/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To lower in value or social position.

  2. To reduce in altitude or magnitude, as hills and mountains; to wear down.

More examples

In context

  • Fred degrades himself by his behaviour.

  • The DNA sample has degraded.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The factory's pollution will blank the quality of nearby streams.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle French dégrader.