different between detract vs debase

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French détracter, from Latin detractum, past participle of detraho.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??t?ækt/
• Rhymes: -ækt

Verb

detract (third-person singular simple present detracts, present participle detracting, simple past and past participle detracted)

1. (intransitive) To take away; to withdraw or remove.
2. (transitive) To take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry.
   • 1604, Michael Drayton, Moses in a Map of his Miracles

     That calumnious critic […] / Detracting what laboriously we do.

Synonyms

• (to take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry): defame, decry
• See also Thesaurus:defame

Derived terms

• detraction
• detractor

Translations

Anagrams

• tracted

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