DEGRADATION • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Degradation

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/dˌɛgrədˈeɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Degradation n.

1.

The act of reducing in rank, character, or reputation, or of abasing; a lowering from one's standing or rank in office or society; diminution; as, the degradation of a peer, a knight, a general, or a bishop. "He saw many removes and degradations in all the other offices of which he had been possessed."

2.

The state of being reduced in rank, character, or reputation; baseness; moral, physical, or intellectual degeneracy; disgrace; abasement; debasement. "The... degradation of a needy man of letters." "Deplorable is the degradation of our nature." "Moments there frequently must be, when a sinner is sensible of the degradation of his state."

3.

Diminution or reduction of strength, efficacy, or value; degeneration; deterioration. "The development and degradation of the alphabetic forms can be traced."

4.

(Geol.) A gradual wearing down or wasting, as of rocks and banks, by the action of water, frost etc.

5.

(Biol.) The state or condition of a species or group which exhibits degraded forms; degeneration. "The degradation of the species man is observed in some of its varieties."

6.

(Physiol.) Arrest of development, or degeneration of any organ, or of the body as a whole.

Degradation of energy, or Dissipation of energy (Physics), the transformation of energy into some form in which it is less available for doing work.

Synonyms: Abasement; debasement; reduction; decline.

See images of 'Degradation'

Etymology of 'Degradation'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Degradation" Quotes from Famous Books

... waiting Brahmin, "We'll return together." He now felt no excitement at all; it was as if he had been immersed in ice water. It was Kathlyn, not the least doubt of it, bought and sold in the slave mart. Misery, degradation . . . then he smiled. He knew Kathlyn Hare. If he did not come to her aid ...

— The Adventures of Kathlyn • Harold MacGrath

... poverty striking and obvious. The west of London, with its vast wealth, its homes of refinement and elegance, and its appliances for the enjoyment of art, science, and literature, is separated from the poverty, the degradation, the misery, and the sorrow of the East End by a gulf as great as that which separated Lazarus from Dives. It is difficult for those who are at ease, whose lives, to use Wordsworth's felicitous phrase, are made up "of cheerful yesterdays and confident to-morrows"—it ...

— Deaconesses in Europe - and their Lessons for America • Jane M. Bancroft

... lifted it toward his. "Patricia, don't make any mistake! There is nothing you care for so much as that boy. You can't give him up! If you had to walk over red-hot ploughshares to come to him, you would do it; if you could win him a moment's happiness by a lifetime of poverty and misery and degradation, you would do it. And so would I, little wife. That is the tie which still unites us; that is the tie which is too strong ever to break. Come back to us, Patricia—to me and ...

— The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck - A Comedy of Limitations • James Branch Cabell

... sensibility, their rapidity of conception, their enthusiasm, and their courage. If in many instances he is degraded by moral and political slavery to the practice of the basest vices it engenders—and that below the level of ordinary degradation—let us reflect that the corruption of the best produces the worst, and that habits which subsist only in relation to a peculiar state of social institution may be expected to cease as soon as that relation is dissolved. In fact, the Greeks, since the admirable novel of Anastasius could ...

— The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume I • Percy Bysshe Shelley

... report. And as he listened he felt his heart sink lower and lower, and the old familiar feeling of dirtiness swept over him, the feeling of being a part in an enormous, overpowering scheme of corruption and degradation. The Berlin conference was reaching a common meeting ground, the report said, with Russian, Chinese, and American officials making the first real progress in the week of talks. Hope rising for an early armistice on ...

— Bear Trap • Alan Edward Nourse

Copyright © 2025 Diccionario ingles.com