debase

Etymology

It is formed from English de- + base,^[2][3][4][5] the prefix meaning "down".^[6][4][7] The OED, Klein and the Oxford Dictionary of English take the second part as the now obsolete verb meaning to lower, which the OED explains as partly a shortening of abase, partly Anglo-Norman and Middle French baisser and partly the adjective.^[2][8][7] Barnhart, the American Heritage Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Dictionary.com take it as the adjective itself, "low", on the model of abase,^[4][3][5][9] and Etymonline gives both.^[6] The adjective is from Anglo-Norman baas, also Old French bas,^[2][6] from Late Latin bassus (“thick, stumpy, low”), of uncertain origin.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To lower in estimation, to decry: 1565, in T. Stapleton's Fortresse of Faith.^[2][5] Barnhart dates the verb to 1568,^[4] and Etymonline to the 1560s, as lowering in position, rank or dignity.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The first two senses were close to abase and are now obsolete: to decry or vilify, until 1746, and to lower in rank or dignity, from 1569 to 1827.^[2][10] The sense that survives appears in 1591, in Spenser: to lower in quality, value or character.^[2][6] From this came the special sense of lowering the value of coin with alloy, recorded by the OED from 1602^[2] and by Etymonline, of currency, from the 1590s.^[6] Johnson (1755) recorded the whole range, from "to reduce from a higher to a lower state" to "to adulterate; to lessen in value by base admixtures".^[11] Merriam-Webster Unabridged still lists lowering in status or esteem, with a reflexive use, and has extended the money sense to reducing a currency's exchange value.^[5]

Timeline

• 1565 – to lower in estimation, to decry (obsolete by 1746).^[2][5]
• 1569 – to lower in position, rank or dignity (obsolete by 1827).^[2]
• 1591 – to lower in quality, value or character.^[2]
• 1593 – the noun debasement.^[4]
• 1602 – to lower the value of coin by adding alloy.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lower the quality, value or character of something; to degrade or adulterate: Cheap imitations debased the style.^[12][5][2]
2. To reduce the value of coin by adding base metal.^[12][5][2]
3. To reduce the exchange value of a currency.^[5]
4. To lower in status or esteem, often oneself: He refused to debase himself by begging.^[5][12]
5. (obsolete, 1565–1746) To decry or vilify.^[2][10][5]
6. (obsolete, 1569–1827) To lower in position or rank; to abase.^[2][10]

Word family

• debasement
• debaser
• debasingly
• undebased

Related words

• abase
• base

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins