What's the difference between debase and degrade?

Debase


Definition:

  • (a.) To reduce from a higher to a lower state or grade of worth, dignity, purity, station, etc.; to degrade; to lower; to deteriorate; to abase; as, to debase the character by crime; to debase the mind by frivolity; to debase style by vulgar words.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The borderline group scored significantly higher on the following scales: Disclosure (X), Debasement (Z), Passive-Aggressive (8A), Self-Defeating (8B), Borderline (C), and Major Depression (CC).
  • (2) I still have the stench of their debasement in my nostrils.
  • (3) Inevitably, they are not to everyone's taste: educated Mexicans are scandalised by what they see as the debasement of a noble folk tradition, the Catholic Church has denounced corridistas for glorifying the drugs trade, and at least five Mexican states have banned radios from airing the music.
  • (4) I said to Nick Boles, who at the time was the planning minister, ‘Have you been down to Eastleigh yet?’ and he said, ‘I’m told I’m not allowed to go down in case it inflames the whole housebuilding issue.’” Browne added: “The public, whether it’s the NHS or housebuilding, detect that gap, and you will see it now at constituency level with quite debased leaflet-based campaigning about what the parties are going to stop at local level, which is almost completely at odds with the macro-level speeches that the leaders are making up in Westminster.
  • (5) The impact reaches far beyond the figures inscribed on a Test-match scorebook and debases the credibility of the entire sport.
  • (6) If the system is to be effective, however, every temptation must be resisted by all involved parties to debase it by using it for self-serving purposes.
  • (7) But the most debased and vulgar abuse is directed at women, particularly liberal and secular women, and especially women who are not Hindu,” Guha said.
  • (8) In a society that values women on the basis of their sexuality, a woman who views herself as "debased" may see prostitution as a viable alternative--perhaps the only alternative.
  • (9) Failing all the above, do they have any worth in the rapidly debasing currency of iconicity?
  • (10) Twelve manipulation tactics were identified through separate factor analyses of two instruments based on different data sources: Charm, Reason, Coercion, Silent Treatment, Debasement, and Regression (replicating Buss et al., 1987), and Responsibility Invocation, Reciprocity, Monetary Reward, Pleasure Induction, Social Comparison, and Hardball (an amalgam of threats, lies, and violence).
  • (11) A possible cause of these complications may be the debasement of coagulation factors and opsonins in plasma after hepatectomy.
  • (12) They could not simultaneously debase the currency and back it with gold at a fixed rate.
  • (13) It's debased and stupefied, really, but that's daily politics."
  • (14) The progress in prenatal diagnosis and the possibility of replacing risk with security is about to debase the rationale of genetic counseling.
  • (15) Yet on this issue there appears to be a licence to reject our best scientists both here and abroad and rely instead on much less reliable views.” He has railed against the “dumbing down” of Australian debate in general and the debasing of smart policy for political gain.
  • (16) While this clown's latest assertion of his alpha-maleness, in debased imitation of Bertram Wooster's misadventures, will undoubtedly add to female consternation about a Drones Club government whose leader insults women and twits his rival for being insufficiently "macho", Mitchell's contribution to the public understanding of hegemonic masculinity also deserves a mention.
  • (17) A third factor is that currencies are being debased in the developed world, where sovereign debt is at record levels and bearish commentators fear the dollar could slump 20% in the next two years.
  • (18) Social cohesion is repeatedly challenged by the knowing use of debasing and divisive language, a politics where voters are encouraged to imagine all benefits claimants are scroungers and every migrant as potentially illegal.
  • (19) For Coetzee, the result reflected a debasement of Britain’s political culture: the traducing, with media complicity, of rational discourse by a leave campaign that targeted the very idea of factual argument.
  • (20) The purpose of these developments however is clear: to debase and disempower Republican Political Prisoners.” The republican prisoners warned: “Those overseeing and implementing these policies would do well to use history as their guide to see where their actions will lead.” In 2012 dissident republicans shot dead a Maghaberry prison officer, David Black , while he drove along a motorway on his way to work at the prison.

Degrade


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To reduce from a higher to a lower rank or degree; to lower in rank; to deprive of office or dignity; to strip of honors; as, to degrade a nobleman, or a general officer.
  • (v. t.) To reduce in estimation, character, or reputation; to lessen the value of; to lower the physical, moral, or intellectual character of; to debase; to bring shame or contempt upon; to disgrace; as, vice degrades a man.
  • (v. t.) To reduce in altitude or magnitude, as hills and mountains; to wear down.
  • (v. i.) To degenerate; to pass from a higher to a lower type of structure; as, a family of plants or animals degrades through this or that genus or group of genera.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This bone could not be degraded by human monocytes in vitro as well as control bone (only 54% of control; P less than 0.003).
  • (2) Lp(a) also complexes to plasmin-fibrinogen digests, and binding increases in proportion to the time of plasmin-induced fibrinogen degradation.
  • (3) The rate of accumulation of degraded LDL products was lower in collagen gel cultures, but the final levels achieved were the same in the two substrata.
  • (4) At the highest dose of chloroquine tested (500 microM), a slightly greater increase in insulin binding and a decrease in insulin degradation were observed in fetal cells as compared with adult cells.
  • (5) Addition of extracellular mevalonate led to a concentration-dependent fall in both processes, although a higher concentration was required to produce the same effect on LDL degradation as on HMG-CoA reductase activity.
  • (6) Radioiodinated a-factor was used to identify the a-factor-degrading activity, which is cell associated, endoproteolytic, and not required for response to pheromone.
  • (7) Densitometric analysis of myofibrillar proteins separated with sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis indicated that troponin I and troponin T were degraded during 60 minutes of CGI.
  • (8) In addition, we found apyrase activity (which degrades ATP and ADP to AMP and orthophosphate) and an anticoagulant.
  • (9) Degradation of both viral and host DNA with micrococcal nuclease and spleen phosphodiesterase indicated that CdG was incorporated primarily into internal positions in both DNAs.
  • (10) In vitro studies showed that BOF-A2 was rapidly degraded to EM-FU and CNDP in homogenates of the liver and small intestine of mice and rats, and in sera of mice, rats and human, and the conversion of EM-FU to 5-FU occurred only in the microsomal fraction of rat liver in the presence of NADPH.
  • (11) Only PPACK completely inhibited changes in fibrin degradation products, plasminogen and alpha 2-antiplasmin.
  • (12) On the other hand, if we correct for the population of HMM with degraded light chain 2, the difference in the binding constants in the presence and absence of Ca2+ may be as great as 5-fold.
  • (13) When cultures were pulse labeled for 15 min and then incubated under chase conditions for 105 min, the amount of degraded collagen attained a value equal to approximately 20% of the amount synthesized during the labeling period; the data were fit with a simple exponential function that had a 40-min rise time and a 12-min lag time.
  • (14) The mode of ribosome degradation under this condition is discussed in terms of differential appearance of these intermediate particles.
  • (15) Degraded visual acuity had a significant effect on cadence, foot placement, and foot clearance, but visual surround conditions did not.
  • (16) The resistance of GSA 65 to proteolytic degradation, together with previous immunofluorescence data that indicate the antigen is an integral part of the G. lamblia cyst wall, suggests that this molecule may play a role in maintaining the integrity of the cyst in vivo.
  • (17) 5% of the degradation resulted from enzymatic activity in the culture medium, presumably due to secretion of proteolytic enzymes by the cells.
  • (18) At 37 degrees C, 125I-labeled TNF-alpha was rapidly internalized and degraded in L-929, U-937 and LAK cells.
  • (19) Recovery after EEDQ administration showed that both receptor production rate and degradation rate constants of anterior pituitary D2 and striatal D1 receptors were slowed after chronic estradiol treatment, whereas recovery rates for striatal D2 dopamine receptors were unaffected.
  • (20) The specific rates of degradation of L-arginine-AMC, gly-proline-AMC, N-alpha-benzoyl-L-arginine-AMC and N-[p-toluene-sulphonyl]gly-pro-arginine-AMC were significantly greater in that group, indicating that the composition of their gingival crevicular fluid was different from that of the gingivitis group.