debase

1. 1.

   corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality

   “debauch the young people with wine and women”

   “Socrates was accused of corrupting young men”

   “Do school counselors subvert young children?”

   “corrupt the morals”

   Synonymscorruptpervertsubvertdemoralizedemoralisedebauchprofanevitiatedepravemisdirect

   Broaderchange

   Narrowersensualizeinfectlead offpoisonbastardizesuborn
2. 2.

   lower in value by increasing the base-metal content

   Synonymsalloy

   Broaderdevalue

   metallurgy

3. 3.

   corrupt, debase, or make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance; often by replacing valuable ingredients with inferior ones

   “adulterate liquor”

   Synonymsloadadulteratestretchdilute

   Broadercorrupt

   Narrowerwater downsophisticate

Other forms of debase

past tense

debased·

present participle

debasing·

third person

debases·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about debase

What does debase mean?

debase means "corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in debase?

debase has 2 syllables: de-base. The stress falls on "base". In IPA it is /dəˈbeɪs/.

What is another word for debase?

Close synonyms include corrupt, pervert, subvert, demoralize, demoralise. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is debase a common word?

debase is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with debase?

3 words rhyme with debase. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.