Dictionary Definition
degradation
Noun
1 changing to a lower state (a less respected
state) [syn: debasement]
2 a low or downcast state; "each confession
brought her into an attitude of abasement"- H.L.Menchken [syn:
abasement, abjection]
User Contributed Dictionary
Noun
- The act of reducing in rank, character, or reputation, or of abasing; a lowering from one's standing or rank in office or society; diminution; as, the degradation of a peer, a knight, a general, or a bishop.
- The state of being reduced in rank, character, or reputation; baseness; moral, physical, or intellectual degeneracy; disgrace; abasement; debasement.
- Diminution or reduction of strength, efficacy, or value; degeneration; deterioration.
- A gradual wearing down or wasting, as of rocks and banks, by the action of water, frost etc.
- The state or condition of a species or group which exhibits degraded forms; degeneration.
- Arrest of development, or degeneration of any organ, or of the body as a whole.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
act of reducing in rank, character, or
reputation, or of abasing
- Finnish: heikentyminen
state of being reduced in rank, character, or
reputation
- Finnish: alennustila, rappio
- Portuguese: declínio
diminution or reduction of strength, efficacy,
or value; degeneration; deterioration
- Finnish: rappeutuminen, pilaantuminen
- Portuguese: degeneração, deterioração
gradual wearing down or wasting, as of rocks and
banks
- Finnish: rappeutuminen, pilaantuminen
state or condition of a species or group which
exhibits degraded forms; degeneration
- Finnish: rappeutuminen
arrest of development, or degeneration of any
organ, or of the body as a whole
- Finnish: rappeutuminen
Extensive Definition
Degradation may refer to;
- Biodegradation, the processes by which organic substances are broken down by living organisms
- Chemical decomposition, the degradation of chemical compounds
- Degradation (song), by the Violent Femmes
- Degradation (telecommunications), the loss of quality of an electronic signal
- Degradation Ceremony, a ritual performed when cleric is deprived of office or a Knight is stripped of the honour
- Elegant degradation, in engineering, the gradual failing of a machine
See also
- Gradation (disambiguation)
- Attenuation
- Decomposition (disambiguation)
- Erosion
- Humiliation
degradation in Arabic: انحلال
degradation in German: Degradation
degradation in French: Dégradation
degradation in Indonesian: Degradasi
degradation in Russian: Деградация
degradation in Slovak: Degradácia
degradation in Ukrainian: Деградація
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
abandon, abandonment, abasement, abjection, abjectness, ablation, abominableness, atomization, atrociousness, banishment, baseness, beggarliness, biodegradability,
biodegradation,
blackballing,
breakup, bump, bust, casting down, chicanery, comedown, concavity, contemptibility,
contemptibleness,
corrosion, corruptedness, corruption, corruptness, crumbling, crumminess, de-escalation,
debasement, decadence, decadency, decay, declension, declination, decline, decomposition, deformation, defrocking, degeneracy, degenerateness, degeneration, degradability, degrading, demoralization, demotion, depluming, deportation, depravation, depravedness, depravity, depreciation, depression, deprivation, derogation, descent, despicableness, deterioration, detrusion, devolution, dilapidation, diminution, disbarment, discredit, disfellowship, disgrace, disgrading, dishonor, disintegration, disjunction, disorganization,
displuming, disrepute, dissoluteness, dissolution, downgrading, downtrend, downturn, downward mobility,
downward trend, drop,
ducking, dying, ebb, effeteness, enormity, erosion, exclusion, excommunication,
execrableness,
exile, expatriation, extradition, fading, failing, failure, failure of nerve,
fall, falling-off, foulness, fugitation, fulsomeness, grossness, hauling down,
heinousness,
hollowness, humbling, humiliation, ignobility, ignominiousness,
ignominy, incoherence, infamousness, infamy, ingloriousness, involution, knavery, knavishness, lapse, littleness, loss of honor,
loss of tone, lowering,
lowness, meanness, mildew, miserableness, mold, monstrousness, moral
pollution, moral turpitude, nefariousness, obloquy, obnoxiousness, odiousness, odium, opprobrium, ostracism, ostracization, outlawing, outlawry, oxidation, oxidization, paltriness, pettiness, pokiness, poorness, profligacy, rankness, rascality, rascalry, ravages of time,
reduction, regression, relegation, reprobacy, resolution, retrocession, retrogradation, retrogression, roguery, roguishness, rottenness, rust, rustication, scabbiness, scampishness, scoundrelism, scrubbiness, scruffiness, scumminess, scurviness, shabbiness, shame, shoddiness, sinking, slippage, slump, smallness, spoilage, squalor, stripping, stripping of rank,
submergence,
thrusting under, transportation, turpitude, unfrocking, vileness, villainousness, villainy, vitiation, wane, wear, wear and tear, wretchedness