debased
debased is the simple past and past participle of debase.
Adjective
debased (comparative more debased, superlative most debased)
- Brought low; degraded.
- 8), Azure, a thistle ensigned with an Imperial Crown, all proper; and its use is pretty frequent in the somewhat debased heraldry of the close of the last century and the beginning of the present.1892, John Woodward, George Burnett, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 335
- 58,) and also a new crest, viz. upon a wreath argent and vert, a demi-dragon erased gules P, gorged about the loins with a ducal coronet ... 59,) are an admirable specimen of the complex and debased heraldry of the day. 1515.1847, Henry Gough, A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry: With a Chronological Table, Illustrative of Its Rise and Progress
- Abased, abaissé: (of a charge) borne lower than usual.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:debased.
Meaning of debase
Verb
debase (third-person singular simple present debases, present participle debasing, simple past and past participle debased)
- To lower in character, quality, or value; to degrade.
- And just as history will decide whether the leaders of today's world employed the atom to destroy the world or rebuild it for mankind's benefit, so will history decide whether today's broadcasters employed their powerful voice to enrich the people or to debase them.1961 May 9, Newton N. Minow, Television and the Public Interest
- Synonyms:
- abase, adulterate, degrade, demean, debauch
- To lower in position or rank.
- Synonyms:
- cut down to size, demote, humble, abase, bring down to size, defame, degrade, demean, depress, discredit
- To lower the value of (a currency) by reducing the amount of valuable metal in the coins.
- Synonyms:
- adulter, alloy, embase, abase, adulterate, adulterize, balderdash, corrupt, bastardize, dash
Forms of debased
| comparative | more debased |
|---|---|
| superlative | most debased |
Words formed from debased
Questions about debased
- What does debased mean?
- Debased means brought low; degraded.
- What is debased the simple past and past participle of?
- Debased is the simple past and past participle of debase.
- What part of speech is debased?
- Debased is an adjective.
Words near debased in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: debased (page history and authors); debase (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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Cite this entry: “debased.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/debased. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.