abase
UK/əˈbeɪs/
abase verb: to lower, as in condition in life, office, rank, etc., so as to cause pain or hurt feelings; to degrade, to depress, to humble, to humiliate.
Verb
abase (third-person singular simple present abases, present participle abasing, simple past and past participle abased)
- To lower, as in condition in life, office, rank, etc., so as to cause pain or hurt feelings; to degrade, to depress, to humble, to humiliate.
- For whoſoeuer exalteth himſelfe ſhalbe abaſed: and hee that humbleth himſelfe, ſhalbe exalted.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 14:11
- Our adverſaries object againe, that by praying that Chriſts merits may be made ours in particular, we greatly abaſe them. As though the Prophet David did abaſe God in making him his in particular, ſaying, the Lord is my rock, my fortreſſe, my God, and my ſtrength, my ſhield, the horne of my...1657, John Ball, “By Faith a True Believer may be Certain and Infallibly Assured of the Remission of His Sins and Eternal Salvation”, in A Treatise of Faith: Divided into Two Parts: The First Shewing...
- To lower physically; to depress; to cast or throw down; to stoop.
- to abase the eye
- Her gracious words their rancour did appall, / And ſuncke ſo deepe into their boyling breſts, / That downe they lett their cruel weapons fall, / And lowly did abaſe their lofty creſts, / To her faire preſence, and diſcrete beheſts.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 32, page 214
- To lower in value, in particular by altering the content of alloys in coins; to debase.
- Though in the nature thereof, that with which a purer metal is mixed, be not base; yet, it abases the purer metal. […] [T]hough silver be a precious metal, yet it abases gold. Grace, and peace, and faith, are precious parts of our treasure here; yet, if we mingle them, that is, compare them with...1629 February 12, John Donne, “Sermon CXXXVI. A Lent Sermon Preached to the King, at Whitehall, February 12, 1629”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D., Dean of St. Paul’s...
- [H]er majesty [Elizabeth I of England] let them all to understand, that she never intended (God's grace assisting her) to leese the fruit of so famous an act, by abasing the coin of the realm, which she found to be for the more part copper, and had now recovered it to be as fine, or rather finer...1840, Rogers Ruding, “Elizabeth”, in Annals of the Coinage of Great Britain and Its Dependencies; from the Earliest Period of Authentic History to the Reign of Victoria, 3rd corrected and enlarged...
- Synonyms:
- adulterate, debauch, degrade, devalue, downgrade, adulter, adulterize, alloy, balderdash, corrupt
abase meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
abase in Hindi
- नीचे करना, गिरा देना, अवमानित करना, नीचा दिखाना, दर्जा घटाना, घटिया बना देना
abase in Tamil
- தாழ்த்து, இழிவு செய், இகழ்ச்சி, இகழ்தல்
abase in Urdu
- بےعزت کرنا, ہتک کرنا, توہین کرنا, اتارنا, ذلیل کرنا
abase in Malayalam
- മാനക്കേട് വരുത്തുക, അപമാനപ്പെടുത്തുക, തന്നെത്തന്നെ താഴ്ത്തൽ, സ്വാപമാനം, മാനക്കേടുവരുത്തിയ, തരംതാഴ്ത്തിയ
More languagesFewer languages
- abase in Kannada
- ಅವಮಾನಪಡಿಸು, ತೆಗಳು, ನಿಂದಿಸು, ಹೀನೈಸು
- abase in Sanskrit
- दम्भयति dambháyati
- abase in Arabic
- ذَلّ ḏall
Examples of abase in a sentence
- Our adverſaries object againe, that by praying that Chriſts merits may be made ours in particular, we greatly abaſe them.1657, John Ball, “By Faith a True Believer may be Certain and Infallibly Assured of the Remission of His Sins and Eternal Salvation”, in A...
- When a large kingdom abases itself to a small principality, it acquires that principality, and when a small state abases itself to a large one, it obtains service (or protection) under the large one.1868 December, T. W., “Lao-Tzu. 老子: A Study in Chinese Philosophy.”, in The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal, volume I, number 8...
- Though in the nature thereof, that with which a purer metal is mixed, be not base; yet, it abases the purer metal. […] [T]hough silver be a precious metal, yet it abases gold.1629 February 12, John Donne, “Sermon CXXXVI. A Lent Sermon Preached to the King, at Whitehall, February 12, 1629”, in Henry Alford...
Synonyms of abase
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- cut down to size
- defame
- demote
- dishonour
- disparage
- downgrade
- give a bad name
- knock down to size
- put someone in their place
- reduce
- relegate
- slur
- trim down to size
- whittle down to size
- bring down
- lower
- abate
- belittle
- cut
- decrease
- decrement
- diminish
- foreshorten
- lessen
- lilliputianize
- mince
- minimize
- shrink
- smallify
- adulterate
Antonyms
4 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of abase
| third-person singular present | abases |
|---|---|
| present participle | abasing |
| past participle | abased |
| past | abased |
Origin of abase
From Late Middle English abaishen, abashen, abaisse, abassen, abesse, abessen (“to be upset; to embarrass; to surprise; to confound; to bend down, stoop; to abase, degrade, disgrace”), from Middle French abaisser, from Old French abaissier, abessier (“to prostrate oneself; to lower, reduce”) (also compare Old French esbahir (“to amaze”), Vulgar Latin abbassiāre (“to lower”)), from a- (prefix indicating movement towards something) (from Latin ad (“toward, to”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“at, to”)) + baissier (“to lower”) (from Medieval Latin bassus (“short of stature, low; base”), possibly from Ancient Greek βᾰ́σῐς (bắsĭs, “foot; base, foundation”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to step”)). The spelling of the English word has been influenced by base, thus ostensibly analyzable as a- (“towards”) + base. There exist verb cognates in Gallo-Romance languages such as Catalan abaixar (“lower; abase”) and Occitan abaissar, and similar word construction in other romance languages as Spanish abajo (“down, downstairs; below”).
Words formed from abase
Words that rhyme with abase
45 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- embrace
- lace
- replace
- mace
- displace
- bass
- efface
- plaice
- disgrace
- pes
- debase
- deface
- interlace
- misplace
- retrace
- white space
- bouillabaisse
- dace
- enlace
- grimace
- nominative case
- red in the face
- -ase
- abaisse
- acoustic bass
- aggrace
- Alsace
- apace
- artspace
- encase
- gather pace
- Harbour Grace
- Havre de Grace
- heart of grace
- into space
- Jace
- Jase
- laisse
- misgrace
- Naas
- outpace
- reys
- supplace
- Thrace
- torace
Questions about abase
- What does abase mean?
- Abase means to lower, as in condition in life, office, rank, etc., so as to cause pain or hurt feelings; to degrade, to depress, to humble, to humiliate.
- What is abase in Hindi?
- Abase in Hindi is नीचे करना, गिरा देना, अवमानित करना. See Abase meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use abase in a sentence?
- Our adverſaries object againe, that by praying that Chriſts merits may be made ours in particular, we greatly abaſe them.
- What part of speech is abase?
- Abase is a verb.
- How do you pronounce abase?
- Abase is pronounced /əˈbeɪs/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of abase?
- The past tense of abase is abased.
Words near abase in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: abase (page history and authors); abase (Hindi Wiktionary) (page history and authors); abase (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); abase (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); abase (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); abase (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); दम्भयति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-abase.ogg, en-ca-abase.ogg, en-au-abase.ogg.
Cite this entry: “abase.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/abase. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.