de ‧ grade /dɪˈɡreɪd/ BrE AmE verb
1 . [transitive] to treat someone without respect and make them lose respect for themselves:
a movie that degrades women
degrade yourself (by doing something)
How can you degrade yourself by writing such trash?
2 . [transitive] to make a situation or the condition of something worse:
The dolphin’s habitat is being rapidly degraded.
3 . [intransitive and transitive] technical if a substance, chemical etc degrades, or if something degrades it, it changes to a simpler form
—degradable adjective