Debased

Debased

Sentence Definition:

Reduced in quality or value.

Model Sentences:

"Twitter has debased the public sphere" (The Herald).

"By the debased standards of Indian political discourse, where even the use of the indigenous Urdu language is seen as 'Abrahamisation', that is not surprising" (The Economist).

"Judging by their words and behavior, these men appear not to care much about probity or any serious attempt to decontaminate our ever-more debased political system" (iNews).

"It's a hedge against the inflation that's debased the lira and eroded their savings" (Al Jazeera).

Common Roots, Suffixes, and Prefixes:

Prefix:

'de-' - opposite, not, away, down

Root:

'base' - low, of little height

Suffix:

'-ed' - past tense verb

Other Word Forms:

Debase

Debases

Debasing

Derived Forms:

Debasement (noun)

Debaser (noun)

Debasingly (adverb)

Etymology:

There is no dictionary origin for the word 'debase', but there is one for the synonym ‘degrade’.

Degrade:

Language of Origin:

England, mid 16th century

From the word ‘degrader', from ‘degradare’, from the Latin suffix ‘de-’ and ‘gradus’ meaning ‘step’ or ‘grade’.

Observations:

The older meaning of ‘step’ or ‘grade’ affects today’s meaning because when something is ‘debased’ a metaphorical way you could say that is that it takes a ‘step’ down or goes down a ‘grade’.

It was probably not used often way back in the past, but more recently, which is why the word developed recently, in the 16th century. From there the word and definition evolved over time.

Sentence Definition:

When something is debased it has been worsened and is now in a less pure or ideal state than it originally was.

Sentence Example:

Over time the value of coins has been debased by the government.

Tori Faunce