DEGRADE


Meaning of DEGRADE in English

transcription, транскрипция: [ dɪgreɪd ]

( degrades, degrading, degraded)

1.

Something that degrades someone causes people to have less respect for them.

...the notion that pornography degrades women...

When I asked him if he had ever been to a prostitute he said he wouldn’t degrade himself like that.

VERB : V n , V pron-refl

• de‧grad‧ing

Mr Porter was subjected to a degrading strip-search.

= humiliating

ADJ

2.

To degrade something means to cause it to get worse. ( FORMAL )

...the ability to meet human needs indefinitely without degrading the environment.

VERB : V n

3.

In science, if a substance degrades or if something degrades it, it changes chemically and decays or separates into different substances. ( TECHNICAL )

This substance degrades rapidly in the soil.

...the ability of these enzymes to degrade cellulose.

= break down

VERB : V , V n

Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary.      Английский словарь Коллинз COBUILD для изучающих язык на продвинутом уровне.