as in insulting
intended to make a person or thing seem of little importance or value
made degrading comments about his so-called friend behind his back
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in reducing
to bring to a lower grade or rank
the view that such a system degrades doctors to the status of medical employees who ultimately are not in charge of their patients' health care
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in deteriorating
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
degrading the school's animal mascot with a silly costume
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in humiliating
to reduce to a lower standing in one's own eyes or in others' eyes
the players degraded themselves with their crude antics off the field
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of degrading
Samira Asma-Sadeque, People.com, 28 May 2025
Ventura previously testified that Combs forced her to perform degrading acts.
—Nicole Acosta, People.com, 20 May 2025
New Atlas, 25 Feb. 2025
Scripts degrading or becoming inaccessible could account for some of the disorientation caused by memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s.
—Quanta Magazine, 21 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for degrading
Adjective
Earlier on Wednesday, Nash testified about how Combs would often call Ventura degrading names.
—Samira Asma-Sadeque, People.com, 28 May 2025
Ventura previously testified that Combs forced her to perform degrading acts.
—Nicole Acosta, People.com, 20 May 2025
Verb
Flint Flint even says its batteries can work for a short period of time when lit with an open flame or damaged, ultimately degrading without causing a catastrophic event.
—New Atlas, 25 Feb. 2025
Scripts degrading or becoming inaccessible could account for some of the disorientation caused by memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s.
—Quanta Magazine, 21 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for degrading
Recent Examples of Synonyms for degrading
Adjective
-
Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni is insulting because a macaroni was a pejorative term used to describe a fashionable man with feminine traits of 18th-century Britain.—
Kurt Snibbe,
Oc Register,
2 July 2025
-
Conversations revealed an ongoing dialogue that was not only deeply insulting to Read, but morally offensive to women broadly.—
Gemma Allen,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2025
Verb
-
State governments, as well as drug manufacturers, provide financial help to the uninsured, often reducing the cost of PrEP medicines to zero.—
James K. Glassman,
Boston Herald,
6 Jan. 2025
-
Device lifecycle management and repair services will become increasingly important, reducing the amount of technology that ends up in landfills.—
Max Silber,
Forbes,
6 Jan. 2025
Verb
-
Dahl’s relationship with the police department was deteriorating.—
Ronan Farrow,
The New Yorker,
24 Mar. 2025
-
Retail experts saw a lack of investment in Hudson’s Bay stores, diminishing service levels and deteriorating physical conditions, like malfunctioning escalators and water damage in certain locations.—
David Moin,
WWD,
24 Mar. 2025
Verb
-
Poor data quality can provide wrong models and alerts, discrediting predictive monitoring.—
Hrushikesh Deshmukh,
Forbes,
24 Feb. 2025
-
Johnson released new guidelines for reporting gifts Wednesday after discrediting the investigation.—
Jake Sheridan,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Trump tried to claim that media reports about his administration’s early conclusions were somehow demeaning attacks on the performance of our military.—
Chris Brennan,
USA Today,
27 June 2025
-
Loss of community trust Trans and nonbinary people have often been studied under opportunistic and demeaning circumstances.—
Paz Galupo,
The Conversation,
2 June 2025
Adjective
-
The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have antivirus software installed on all your devices.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
10 July 2025
-
Deepfakes have been growing more sophisticated in recent years, in addition to being increasingly deployed for malicious purposes.—
Shannon Bond,
NPR,
10 July 2025
Verb
-
Moffett also said artificial intelligence isn’t driving an upgrade cycle as hoped, noting that there is weakening demand in China along with antitrust concerns.—
Jason Gewirtz,
CNBC,
8 Jan. 2025
-
With high expectations for future new orders along with expanding current new orders, the outlooks for material handling and supply chain industries are positive, despite some weakening in the December MHI BAI report.—
Jason Schenker,
Forbes,
7 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
That post used a derogatory term that historically originated as an insult against Chinese people but is often used more generally toward East Asians.—
Doha Madani,
NBC news,
10 July 2025
-
More: Officials rename 28 places in Wisconsin that had names derogatory to Indigenous women.—
Frank Vaisvilas,
jsonline.com,
9 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Degrading.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/degrading. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share