degrading
adjective
de·grad·ing
di-ˈgrā-diŋ 
dē-
: causing or associated with a low, destitute, or demoralized state : causing someone to be or feel degraded
a degrading experience
… a work about a young man full of bottled rage looking for a degrading job …—
Penelope Gilliatt
Penelope Gilliatt… any cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment of detainees was absolutely forbidden …—David Cole
David Cole
degradingly
di-ˈgrā-diŋ-lē
adverb
dē-
"I hate to be poor, and we are degradingly poor, offensively poor, miserably poor, beastly poor."
—Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
When employees are treated degradingly by their manager, they respond with decreased motivation, commitment, loyalty, and productivity.
—Ken Lloyd
Ken Lloyd
Synonyms
Examples of degrading in a Sentence
made degrading comments about his so-called friend behind his back
Recent Examples on the Web
The source added that Trump’s history of attacking the Obama family and making degrading comments about people of color doesn’t sit well with her.
—Vivian Kwarm, New York Daily News, 15 Jan. 2025
Thanks to the internet and smartphones, children today have instant access to vast amounts of online pornography, much of it graphic, violent and degrading, Texas state attorneys told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
—David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times, 15 Jan. 2025
That smell of vinegar is not just an alarm bell that these objects are destroying themselves but that the degrading polymer is taking down innocent bystanders as well.
—Sarah Everts, Scientific American, 1 Apr. 2016
More than 2 million people in the U.S. lack indoor plumbing and more live with failing sewage systems that can result in waste backing up into homes or pooling on the ground, threatening public health and degrading basic dignity, the EPA said.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Feb. 2024
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Vivian Kwarm, New York Daily News, 15 Jan. 2025
Thanks to the internet and smartphones, children today have instant access to vast amounts of online pornography, much of it graphic, violent and degrading, Texas state attorneys told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
—David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times, 15 Jan. 2025
That smell of vinegar is not just an alarm bell that these objects are destroying themselves but that the degrading polymer is taking down innocent bystanders as well.
—Sarah Everts, Scientific American, 1 Apr. 2016
More than 2 million people in the U.S. lack indoor plumbing and more live with failing sewage systems that can result in waste backing up into homes or pooling on the ground, threatening public health and degrading basic dignity, the EPA said.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for degrading
Dictionary Entries Near degrading
Cite this Entry
“Degrading.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/degrading. Accessed 8 Feb. 2025.
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