abase

This legal tactic—a sensible move by any defense attorney—would abase the proceedings with another cliché of human banalities: the family squabble.

From Slate ● Oct. 18, 2021

It is far more appropriate to take strength from an ultimately uplifting afternoon than abase oneself over an inconsequential refereeing call.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 5, 2018

Why do you need to abase and demean me?

From New York Times ● Sep. 29, 2018

More than that, he’s willing to abase himself in extraordinary ways.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 13, 2018

And yet when he says, “I am from outer space,” some of you actually shut your eyes, abase your intellects, and believe!

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

I find myself captivated by how easily he abases himself without getting maudlin.

From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2024

Russian law says inmates must not be treated in a way that is "harsh" or "abases human dignity".

From Reuters ● Oct. 6, 2021

Russian law says inmates must not be treated in a way that is "harsh" or "abases human dignity."

From Reuters ● Oct. 5, 2021

It is HE who "abases the proud, and exalts the humble."

From The Life of Benjamin Franklin With Many Choice Anecdotes and admirable sayings of this great man never before published by any of his biographers by Mason Locke Weems

A sense of my small returns of love and gratitude to him often abases me and makes me think I am little better than those who profess no religion. 

From Charlotte Brontë and Her Circle by Clement King Shorter

Much of the classical music industry has since abased itself at Mäkelä’s feet.

From New York Times ● Apr. 27, 2023

I hadn’t abased myself, on my knees, scrubbing toilets at the level and in constant sight of my drill instructor’s crotch just to join a club.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 18, 2018

He so thoroughly abased himself that he literally ate the excrement of a patrolman’s steed.

From Slate ● Feb. 5, 2018

In short, the movie feels, if not exactly glamorous, then simultaneously overly processed and overwrought, even when it’s wallowing in the most abased behavior.

From Washington Post ● May 19, 2016

The act of abasing, humbling, or bringing low; the state of being abased or humbled; humiliation.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Noah Webster

Many people come to the politically incorrect boards of 4chan and 8chan from video-game communities, where players looking to laugh at an abasing joke or chat about violent games without offending anyone can find friends.

From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2019

How easily she could picture Oliver abasing himself before this girl by talking about that little out-of-the-way shop, how he’d known the owner for thirty years since his days as a foreign correspondent.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 20, 2018

Before the company, she reiterated the ballet’s gesture of amorous veneration, making her arms a halo that she drew over his head, shoulders, torso, and legs, abasing herself at his feet.

From New York Times ● Jun. 25, 2017

Twenty-two years earlier, he had saved his career by addressing a supposed scandal with his nationally broadcast “Checkers speech,” which was mawkish, abasing and effective.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 1, 2016

For so anxious was he to clear himself of the reproach of abasing himself before his head boys, that his next inquiries were made brusquely and snappishly.

From The Master of the Shell by Talbot Baines Reed