degrade

DEGRADE, verb transitive [Latin A step, a degree.] 1. To reduce from a higher to a lower rank or degree; to deprive one of any office or dignity, by which he loses rank in society; to strip of honors; as, to degrade a nobleman, an archbishop or a general officer. 2. To reduce in estimation; to lessen the value of ; to lower; to sink. Vice degrades a man in the view of others; often in his own view. Drunkenness degrades a man to the level of a beast. 3. To reduce in altitude or magnitude. Although the ridge is still there, the ridge itself has been degraded.