DEGRADE

verb see: grade Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to lower in grade, rank, or status ; demote , to strip of rank or honors, to lower to an inferior or less effective level , to scale down in desirability or salability, 2. to bring to low esteem or into disrepute , to drag down in moral or intellectual character ; corrupt , to impair in respect to some physical property , to wear down by erosion, to reduce the complexity of (a chemical compound) ; decompose , intransitive verb to pass from a higher grade or class to a lower, to become reduced in complexity, ~r noun degradingly adverb