(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.
Villain
Definition:
(n.) One who holds lands by a base, or servile, tenure, or in villenage; a feudal tenant of the lowest class, a bondman or servant.
(n.) A baseborn or clownish person; a boor.
(n.) A vile, wicked person; a man extremely depraved, and capable or guilty of great crimes; a deliberate scoundrel; a knave; a rascal; a scamp.
(a.) Villainous.
(v. t.) To debase; to degrade.
Example Sentences:
(1) But I know the full story and it’s a bit different from what people see.” The full story is heavy on the extremes of emotion and as the man who took a stricken but much-loved club away from its community, Winkelman knows that his part is that of villain; the war of words will rumble on.
(2) They’re not moustache-twirling villains that are going, “ah ha ha that’s great”, they’re going: “You’re right.
(3) Society needs a villain and right now we’re convenient.” “ I will carefully admit there has been an awful lot of almonds planted that maybe shouldn’t have been because outside money came in and wanted to plant,” he says.
(4) Reith, “his dour handsome face scarred like that of a villain in a melodrama”, was “a strange shepherd for such a mixed, bohemian flock … he had under his aegis a bevy of ex-soldiers, ex-actors, ex-adventurers which … even a Dartmoor prison governor might have had difficulty in controlling”.
(5) The success of Capote paved the way for bigger and more nuanced parts for Hoffman, his turn as the villain in Mission: Impossible III (2006) notwithstanding.
(6) Maleficent, Disney's latest film out on 28 May, offers the untold back story of the villain from the 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty, with Jolie in the title role.
(7) When I was nine or 10 I leapt directly from Doctor Dolittle to Dr No, leaving behind all those stupid talking animals and free-falling into a far naughtier realm of suavely promiscuous government assassins, hot shell-diving beauties and villains with metal hands and messianic plans for humanity.
(8) And that’s what we do in drama and comedy: we create our own heroes and villains, so no one really gets hurt.
(9) You're a devious villain conducting the perfect crime, like the dashing guest star in the opening scene of a classic Columbo.
(10) These villains have limited aspirations, and the man in the white hat has a limited arsenal of era-appropriate weaponry: a gun, a bow and arrow, a few grenades, maybe even a tank.
(11) The people shaping the news require a very simple story – they have to be angels and villains.” John Stoltenberg is a gay-rights activist who lived with the feminist writer Andrea Dworkin until her death in 2005.
(12) We are not the villains you paint us on your trollblogs.
(13) For the real villain – look behind Obama, to the Republican party.
(14) It is, according to environmentalist and MP Zac Goldsmith, the most dramatic turnaround of any global green villain ever seen and an encouraging sign that huge environmental challenges can be tackled.
(15) As Paltrow explains: “So-called pro-life measures are being used in ways that not only violate women’s reproductive rights, but create the basis for depriving them of their constitutional personhood and human rights.” While it may be easy to cast women who drink in pregnancy as villains, criminalising them does no one any favours, save for those with a broader anti-women agenda.
(16) Fleming was intrigued by Engelhard's extravagant lifestyle and when he wrote Goldfinger , published in 1959, he based its eponymous villain on him.
(17) In the Kenzie and Gennaro series, like all good detective fiction, the city is as sharp and unpredictable as the villains themselves.
(18) Why swapping heroes for heroines is a Top Dollar idea Read more The potential gender-swap casting comes after Britain’s Andrea Riseborough was named earlier this month as a frontrunner to play the villain Top Dollar in a high-profile upcoming remake of cult comic book movie The Crow.
(19) Mohammed al-Sabban Senior economic adviser, Saudi Arabia Moustachioed high-up in his country's ministry of petroleum and mineral resources, leader of the Saudi Arabian negotiating team, and a reasonable bet for Copenhagen's most likely villain.
(20) For one thing, villains always believe they are exceptional.