Word.ws English Dictionary

bastardise

/ˈbæstə(ɹ)daɪz/

bastardise is the non-Oxford British English standard spelling of bastardize.

Meaning of bastardize

Verb

bastardize (third-person singular simple present bastardizes, present participle bastardizing, simple past and past participle bastardized)

  1. (British, English, Oxford, US) To claim or demonstrate that someone is a bastard, or illegitimate.
    • Our law is so indulgent as not to bastardize the child, if it be born, though not begotten, in lawful wedlock.1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC
  2. (British, English, Oxford, US) To reduce from a higher to a lower state, such as by removing refined elements or introducing debased elements; to debase.
    • The simplified word processor is a less-functional, bastardized version of the full program.
  3. (British, English, Oxford, US) To beget out of wedlock.
    • I should / have been that I am, had the maidenliest star in the / firmament twinkled on my bastardizing.c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, King Lear, act 1, scene 2, lines 130–132

Forms of bastardise

third-person singular presentbastardises
present participlebastardising
past participlebastardised
pastbastardised

Origin of bastardise

From bastard + -ise.

Words formed from bastardise

Questions about bastardise

What is bastardise the non-Oxford British English standard spelling of?
Bastardise is the non-Oxford British English standard spelling of bastardize.
How do you pronounce bastardise?
Bastardise is pronounced /ˈbæstə(ɹ)daɪz/.

Words near bastardise in the dictionary

  1. Bastardi
  2. bastardies
  3. bastarding
  4. bastardisation
  5. bastardisations
  6. bastardise
  7. bastardised
  8. bastardiser
  9. bastardisers
  10. bastardises
  11. bastardish

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bastardise (page history and authors); bastardize (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bastardise.wav.

Cite this entry: “bastardise.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bastardise. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.