Learn English Grammar From A–Z
transitive verb
1
(devalue)(ideal/principle) degradar(ideal/principle) envilecer(language) corromper(language) viciarthe debased standards of the time — la decadencia de la época- It should be noted that the coinage was often debased (lowered in value through the admixture of alloy) and strategically revalued.
- The state has understood this lesson since the kings of old began repeatedly to debase the coinage.
- In Europe, gold was democratized by its use in coins, even though successive rulers tried to debase them by mixing in lesser metals or reducing their size.
- Milton Friedman pointed out some years ago that when the government spends, it will figure out a way to finance its spending, whether by taxes, by deficit borrowing or debasing the currency.
- The US financed the war through printing extra dollars (rather than through increased taxation) and so it debased its own currency.
- I'm all about building up the human spirit, not debasing it and degrading it all the more.
- Rather, it assumes a more traditional role in which art becomes a privatized sphere of reality, seen in opposition to a world debased by common values.
- This skewed history is the result of an oral culture being debased and devalued through the past century.
- Inflation, which is always politically engineered, devalues currencies, debases trust and takes years to work its way out of investors' perceptions.
- But they should not be allowed to force us into unnecessarily debasing the quality of our democracy.
- The phenomenon distorts religion, debases tradition, and twists the political process wherever it unfolds.
- Everywhere people recognise that genuine forms of corruption debase the quality of their life, lead to the degradation of their social and physical environment.
- His way is not just to debase traditional standards; it is to do away with them altogether.
- The intimidation of political dissidents threatens the right of free speech for all and debases our traditions of civil liberty and tolerance.
- It was reprehensible the way they debased the institutions of government to fund the '96 campaign.
- The ‘anti’ brigade says that gifts can debase the trust between doctor and patient and devalue the true value of the care that doctors give.
- I mean, they use military language in football, too, and we don't complain about that overstating the case or debasing the language.
- This is the sort of thing that debases a language and a culture.
- Part of the charge against the Olympics is that while proclaiming simple idealism it in fact debases the meaning and purpose of sport itself.
- The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible.
- But it does so through the methods of politics, however corrupted and debased these have become in our country.
- As a place for sport and place for pride, this wonderful space has been debased by senseless people acting, presumably, on behalf of the nation, without, of course, the people's voice.
- These are the sort of values that Australian people cherish, are entitled to but are being debased by this government.
- Public life has been debased by the rancid culture of personality politics.
- Sayles shows us characters peddling debased versions of history and culture put to the service of marketing.
2
(demean)(person) degradar(person) rebajarshe refused to debase herself by accepting bribes — no quiso degradarse / rebajarse aceptando sobornos- The acts complained of were such as to arouse in the applicant feelings of fear, anguish, and inferiority capable of humiliating and debasing him and possibly breaking his resistance.
- The corollary is that when shown what debases us, our soul compresses and our ego inflates.
- Monroe had fled to the Actors Studio in the mid-'50s to achieve something more than the stardom she felt debased her.
- For some people extending human control over genes is the supreme act of hubris and, like all hubris, threatens paradoxically not to elevate but to debase us.
- If the Minister had received cash in return for assisting a visa or passport application, that would debase him.
- It is unfair, unequal, biased, and debases us all.
- The sick jerk probably debased us in his mind to the point where we didn't even have any feelings.
- We expect our television to debase us, empty us, and condescend to us.
- You can see the suppressed masculine rage about this emerging in the phenomenal rise of violent internet porn based on debasing women and ‘putting them in their place’.
- Trying to keep track of 18 people rapidly debasing themselves in the hope of winning a million dollars was no easy feat.
- For those viewers who aren't regular watchers of this show, let me recap how the game works: People debase themselves for money.
- People like to watch people debase themselves.
- His message spoke directly to a people who had been utterly debased by the country's white-supremacist society.
- He is representative of the debased and semi-criminal character of the oligarchy that rules the country.
- In the light of the foregoing, the Court considers that in the present case there is no evidence that there was a positive intention of humiliating or debasing the applicant.
- It is deemed treatment to be degrading because it was such as to arouse in the victims feelings of fear, anguish and inferiority capable of humiliating and debasing them.
- There is no evidence in this case of any positive intention to humiliate or debase the applicant.
- As a Christian I believe we must always recognize the dignity of even the most debased human being and we should not take pleasure in their death.
- Far from debasing his models (most of whom are not naked), Newton places them at the heart of a deep and complex drama where they rule like errant queens.
- Not content to debase himself, he insisted that his wife drink as well.
3
(coinage) alterar
