What does degrade mean?
To degrade is to lower the quality, status, dignity, or integrity of someone or something. When applied to people, it suggests a loss of respect or self-worth, often through humiliation or contemptuous treatment — as in 'degrading and inhuman treatment', a phrase that appears frequently in human rights discourse. When applied to objects or environments, it refers to a decline in quality, condition, or value, whether gradual wear on infrastructure or the breakdown of materials over time. In chemistry and environmental science, degrade has a more technical meaning: the decomposition of a compound into simpler substances, often through biological or natural processes — hence terms like biodegradable. The word derives from the Latin gradus, meaning 'step' or 'degree', so to degrade is etymologically to push someone down a step in rank. Its connotations are consistently negative, and its versatility — spanning moral, material, and scientific domains — makes it a precise and useful verb for describing decline, deterioration, or deliberate reduction in standing.
To lower someone or something in dignity, status, quality, or moral character; to treat with contempt or disrespect.
"The report condemned the prison conditions as deliberately designed to degrade the inmates."
To deteriorate in quality or condition; or, in chemistry, to decompose into simpler components.
"The signal gradually degrades as it travels further from the transmitter."
This intransitive sense is particularly common in technical and scientific writing about signals, materials, and environmental processes.
The same Latin root that gives you your school 'grades' also powers this word — to degrade someone is literally to pull them down a step on the staircase of rank.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of degrade
Degrade entered English in the late Middle Ages, borrowed from Old French 'degrader', which itself came from Late Latin 'degradare', formed from the prefix 'de-' (down) and 'gradus' (step, degree). The underlying image is of descending a flight of steps — moving down in rank or condition. It shares this Latin root with words such as 'degree', 'gradual', 'graduate', and 'retrograde', all of which carry some sense of step, stage, or movement along a scale.
Related word forms
How degrade is actually used
Degrade is common across registers but carries a strongly negative connotation. When applied to people, it often appears in formal contexts discussing human rights ('degrading treatment'). When applied to materials or the environment, it is standard technical vocabulary. The transitive sense (to degrade something/someone) is more frequent than the intransitive sense (to degrade over time), though both are well established.
Easily confused with degrade
Denigrate means to criticize unfairly or belittle someone's reputation through words, whereas degrade means to actually reduce someone's status or dignity, or to chemically break something down.