degrade
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.
See Examples For:
That would come at a cost: Refined products can degrade and must be continually replaced.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Recognizing that 9/11’s horrors compounded over the years does not degrade the memory of its initial victims.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026
The environmental impact of traditional balloons, which despite their advertising do not degrade, is largely unknown to the general public.
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
The findings from Dubilier and her colleagues suggest that animals may help degrade natural bioplastics alongside microorganisms.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026
No generation has the right to dictate to another what its culture ought to be, or to degrade its choices as stupid and offensive.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
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At a press conference, the island's governor Nigel Phillips said: "The airport fire engines have each developed faults. This degrades the level of fire cover that can be provided."
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026
If it degrades rapidly, that means insects are attracted to the plentiful organic matter.
From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2025
However, they are not without limitations: they are sensitive to external disturbances -- such as strong magnetic fields near a hard drive -- and their performance typically degrades over time.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 21, 2025
Ferrari also faces the risk of its EV losing value faster than its traditional models as the battery degrades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
They do so on the ground that such charity degrades and demoralises.
From Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde
Midrange drones have degraded some Russian electronic-warfare systems and hobbled 300 vessels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
If some of these satellites get hacked, damaged, derailed, or destroyed, America’s ability to fight a war would be seriously degraded.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
There are a few fun visual gags about the degraded far-future — a hospital named St. God’s, the city’s digital clock tower being stuck on a blinking 12:00 — but its punchlines tend toward nasty.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
They argued the cows had degraded the seashore with manure pollution and soil erosion, harming the native wildlife.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Unique is a good example: a crisp and accurate word meaning “one of a kind,” now frequently degraded to merely “unusual.”
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
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"The logic is that with a warming planet, you will see shrinking glaciers, lots of snow melt. The permafrost that is partially holding some mountainsides together is warming and thawing and degrading."
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
Power failures are the most acute risk, but a more insidious problem is if equipment keeps degrading more quickly than expected.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
“The experience was traumatizing, degrading and humiliating,” André said when the lawsuit was filed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
A ride on a people mover feels even more degrading in comparison to the alternative mode serving other travelers.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
I’d have to begin that degrading nonsense again.
From "Kindred" by Octavia Butler
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Vocabulary lists containing degrade
30 GRE Words Beginning with "D"
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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How Low Can You Go? Synonyms for "Downward"
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