Other forms: debased, debasing, debases
To debase is to lower the quality or the worth of something. Debase the currency, debased language, debase yourself.
The oldest use is literal: rulers debased coinage by mixing cheaper metal into it, which raised money in the short term and caused inflation in the long. From that came the moral sense. Note base, meaning low, which is a different word from base, a foundation.
1verbdebaseTo lower the quality or worth of something.
“Critics argue that constant advertising debases the value of sport.”
debase is a lowering.
From de-, down, plus base, low, from Old French bas, from Latin bassus. Rulers debased coins by adding cheap metal.
Proto-Indo-European
*gʷem-
Latin
bassus
Old French
bas
English, today
debase
From de + base, from Old French bas, from Latin bassus. Cognate with Spanish debajo (“under, beneath, below”). Compare abase.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA