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

“Should I abase myself? Rub ashes in my hair? Tear my clothes?”

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

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

To all, whatsoever sends us back upon ourselves, whatsoever strikes us down and crushes us, lifts or abases us,—that is but a syllable of the Divine Word.

From Seraphita by Honoré de Balzac

This abases the This exalts the microscopic municipalities of Greece.

From The Library and Society Reprints of Papers and Addresses by Arthur Elmore Bostwick

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

Two years later the Spanish Inquisition was set up in Rome; and its shadow fell even over Venice, which abased itself to the imprisonment of Bruno.

From Science and Medieval Thought The Harveian Oration Delivered Before the Royal College of Physicians, October 18, 1900 by Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt

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

This is abasing our intelligence, and making it serve as a means to satisfy our wants, whilst it belongs to an order far superior to these very wants.

From Elements of Morals With Special Application of the Moral Law to the Duties of the Individual and of Society and the State by Paul Janet