different between debase vs vulgarize

English

Etymology

From de- +? base, from Old French bas, from Latin bassus. Cognate with Spanish debajo (“under, beneath, below”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??be?s/
• Rhymes: -e?s

Verb

debase (third-person singular simple present debases, present participle debasing, simple past and past participle debased)

1. (transitive) To lower in character, quality, or value; to degrade.
   • 1961 May 9, Newton N. Minow, "Television and the Public Interest":

     And just as history will decide whether the leaders of today's world employed the atom to destroy the world or rebuild it for mankind's benefit, so will history decide whether today's broadcasters employed their powerful voice to enrich the people or to debase them.

2. (transitive, archaic) To lower in position or rank.
3. (transitive) To lower the value of (a currency) by reducing the amount of valuable metal in the coins.

Synonyms

• (lower in character, quality, or value): abase, adulterate, degrade, demean

Derived terms

Translations

References

Anagrams

• e-based, sea bed, seabed

English

Alternative forms

• vulgarise (non-Oxford British spelling)

Etymology

vulgar +? -ize

Verb

vulgarize (third-person singular simple present vulgarizes, present participle vulgarizing, simple past and past participle vulgarized)

1. To make commonplace, lewd, or vulgar.
   • 1915: Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out [2]

     "Yes," said Mr. Flushing. "And in my opinion," he continued, "the absence of population to which Hirst objects is precisely the significant touch. You must admit, Hirst, that a little Italian town even would vulgarise the whole scene, would detract from the vastness — the sense of elemental grandeur."

Synonyms

• debase
• dumb down

Antonyms

• ennoble

Translations

Portuguese

Verb

vulgarize

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of vulgarizar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of vulgarizar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of vulgarizar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of vulgarizar