Degrading means robbing somebody of their self-respect. Degrading treatment, degrading work, degrading and cruel.
In human rights law it is a defined term: inhuman or degrading treatment is prohibited absolutely, with no exception for emergency, and the test is whether it humiliates or debases a person rather than whether it causes pain.
1adjectivedegradingRobbing somebody of their self-respect.
“The prisoners were forced to wear degrading uniforms and scrub floors on their knees.”
degrading is a quality.