Word.ws English Dictionary

demoralize

/dɪˈmɒɹəlaɪz/

demoralize verb: to destroy the morale of; to dishearten.

Verb

demoralize (third-person singular simple present demoralizes, present participle demoralizing, simple past and past participle demoralized)

  1. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To destroy the morale of; to dishearten.
    Synonyms:
    daunt, deter, discourage
    Antonyms:
    encourage, hearten
  2. (British, English, Oxford, US, dated, transitive) To erode the moral adherence of; to corrupt.
    • [I]f you convert a man brought up in another creed, you inevitably demoralize him.1915 December (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Androcles and the Lion. Preface on the Prospects of Christianity.”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and...
    • The election of a man like Mr. Blaine would be such an encouragement to the base and rapacious impulses apt to govern the conduct of politicians, it would so demoralize the public mind and open the floodgates of corruption so wide, that it is no exaggeration to say the success of our free...1913, Carl Schurz, Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, volume IV, To Henry C. Bowen, August 6th, 1884, page 272

demoralize meaning in Malayalam and Kannada

demoralize in Malayalam

മനോവീര്യം കെടുത്തുക, ആത്മവിശ്വാസം കെടുത്തുക, ആവേശം നശിപ്പിക്കുക

demoralize in Kannada

ಗೊಂದಲಗೊಳಿಸು, ಎದೆಗುಂದಿಸು, ಧೈರ್ಯಗೆಡಿಸು, ನೀತಿಗೆಡಿಸು

Examples of demoralize in a sentence

  • They had to submit to a demoralizing virtual receivership under the auspices of the European financial institutions and the IMF.
  • It depletes or demoralizes so many prayer-meetings, chills or misfills so many pulpits, and makes so many unworshipping choirs.
  • The habit of mind so engendered is wholly demoralizing, particularly since the national political consciousness is so dependent on their provokings.

All 11 example sentences with demoralize

Synonyms of demoralize

11 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of demoralize

Forms of demoralize

third-person singular presentdemoralizes
present participledemoralizing
past participledemoralized
pastdemoralized
alternative formdemoralise

Past tense of demoralize: demoralized

Origin of demoralize

From French démoraliser.

Words formed from demoralize

Questions about demoralize

What does demoralize mean?
Demoralize means to destroy the morale of; to dishearten.
What is demoralize in Malayalam?
Demoralize in Malayalam is മനോവീര്യം കെടുത്തുക, ആത്മവിശ്വാസം കെടുത്തുക, ആവേശം നശിപ്പിക്കുക. See Demoralize meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is demoralize?
Demoralize is a verb.
How do you pronounce demoralize?
Demoralize is pronounced /dɪˈmɒɹəlaɪz/ (UK).
What is the past tense of demoralize?
The past tense of demoralize is demoralized.

Words near demoralize in the dictionary

  1. demoralises
  2. demoralising
  3. demoralisingly
  4. demoralization
  5. demoralizations
  6. demoralize
  7. demoralized
  8. demoralizer
  9. demoralizers
  10. demoralizes
  11. demoralizing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: demoralize (page history and authors); demoralize (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); demoralize (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-demoralize.wav.

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