debase
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of debase
Explanation
To debase something is to make it corrupt or impure. If your lemonade stand sells “pure lemonade,” you’d insist on using real lemons instead of a mix; using a mix would debase your product. Debase is often used in the context of two things: coins and people. To debase a coin is to replace some of the precious metal in the coin with metal of lesser value. To debase a person is to corrupt them, often by driving them to perform an immoral act like (gasp!) using the lemonade mix. Just promise us you won’t do it.
Vocabulary lists containing debase
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
His motives are obvious: He’s a bully and it’s fun for him to watch people debase themselves to please him.
From Salon • Apr. 3, 2026
These stories tell us that Diogenes was chased out of his native Sinope, on the north coast of what’s now Turkey, for his supposed role in a scheme to debase the city’s currency.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 17, 2025
“You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that,” Trump said, then he proceeded to debase a journalist who wasn’t there to report on the event because he’d been silenced, forever.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 20, 2025
Trust me, I’ve made the mistake of debating perhaps the world’s most infamous anti-vaccine figure, and all it does is debase science and harm the public.
From Scientific American • Jun. 29, 2023
“His trust! That—that—man . . .” He deserved to be called worse, but in the wood-paneled office, I couldn’t debase myself to use the words that were on the tip of my tongue.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.