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Definitions

debase

[dih-bays] / dɪˈbeɪs /




Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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Japan is not choosing to debase the yen.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

These stories tell us that Diogenes was chased out of his native Sinope, on the north coast of what’s now Turkey, for his supposed role in a scheme to debase the city’s currency.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025

“You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that,” Trump said, then he proceeded to debase a journalist who wasn’t there to report on the event because he’d been silenced, forever.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025

I knew he was trying to be menacing, but I didn’t feel fear so much as astonishment at the way this adult was willing to debase himself to ruin our night.

From Slate ● Feb. 10, 2025

Just because the world was unjust didn’t mean that I must debase myself as well.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

One weak point is the film’s overbearing musical score, by Kadmon, which debases events by giving them the feel of low-budget action filmmaking.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

"This type of exploitative broadcasting - that debases human dignity- will taint the honor of the military that employs it, and a nation that allows it," they also wrote.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

In order to emerge victorious in his quest to bring the World Cup to Mexico, De la Torre debases himself and backstabs shamelessly.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026

It debases all of us when it is reduced to a few letters and numbers — and, worse, perpetuates injustice when used on a systemic level.

From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2021

It is so simple a fact and one that is so hard, apparently, to grasp: Whoever debases others is debasing himself.

From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin

A currency is never debased in the hearing.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026

Whereas the European gothic, he concludes, was “an enlightened attack on a debased ruling class or entrenched superstition,” its American version emerged as “a Calvinist exposé of natural human corruption.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

The very concepts of intellectualism, and of objective knowledge itself, have been debased by a kind of Gresham’s Law, with the bad driving out the good.

From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2026

There will be a new ball this season, the Nike Flight, which is "built with Aerowsculpt technology with grooves debased into the casing, to allow air to travel seamlessly around the ball, delivering truer flight".

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2024

I’ve been debased through my association with you.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

Robbie’s most deliciously debasing scene is when she throws coins on the ground for a desperate beggar — and then that person forces her to watch as he picks them up.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026

The late Roman Empire undermined its commercial economy through centralization, regulation and debasing the currency.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2025

Dismissing the case, Mr Justice Chamberlain said Yaxley-Lennon's own barrister had accepted there was no evidence his client had been segregated "for the purpose of breaking his resistance or humiliating or debasing him".

From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2025

And I just remember being like, “Oh my God. I feel so bad for debasing you.”

From Washington Post ● Sep. 20, 2022

It is so simple a fact and one that is so hard, apparently, to grasp: Whoever debases others is debasing himself.

From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin


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