1
as in to degrade
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
was unwilling to abase himself by pleading guilty to a crime that he did not commit
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2
as in to humiliate
to reduce to a lower standing in one's own eyes or in others' eyes
I certainly don't abase myself when I do good, honest manual labor
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Recent Examples of abase
Turturro was attracted to the novel’s house style: Its manic, sarcastic, abasing observations, largely written in the third person but never far from Sabbath’s perspective, seemed made for the theater.
—
Marc Tracy, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2023
Pence has long since perfected the ability to abase himself in public without seeming the least bit ashamed.
—Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2023
The question is whether the ways in which Pence abased himself in Trump’s efforts to hold on to power will make his testimony seem weaker or more credible.
—Amy Davidson Sorkin, The New Yorker, 13 Aug. 2023
The tension of the novel is between the femme’s self-abasing love for the brilliant masculine creator and the artist in search of her own form.
—Saidiya Hartman, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2023
He’s forced Republican politicians to publicly abase themselves and trash the nation’s premier law-enforcement agencies in an effort to stay in his good graces.
—Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 11 Aug. 2022
Unfortunately, an impulse to abase oneself isn’t resolved by a recognition that human life is a collaboration.
—Caleb Crain, The Atlantic, 10 Aug. 2021
One by one, internees abase themselves before 60 of their fellow prisoners, repenting of their errors in thinking and their nonprogressive religious practices.
—James E. Person Jr., National Review, 17 Sep. 2020
By the end of the weekend, the entire NBA was in damage-control mode, profusely and absurdly abasing themselves.
—Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 7 Oct. 2019
Marc Tracy, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2023
Pence has long since perfected the ability to abase himself in public without seeming the least bit ashamed.
—Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2023
The question is whether the ways in which Pence abased himself in Trump’s efforts to hold on to power will make his testimony seem weaker or more credible.
—Amy Davidson Sorkin, The New Yorker, 13 Aug. 2023
The tension of the novel is between the femme’s self-abasing love for the brilliant masculine creator and the artist in search of her own form.
—Saidiya Hartman, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2023
He’s forced Republican politicians to publicly abase themselves and trash the nation’s premier law-enforcement agencies in an effort to stay in his good graces.
—Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 11 Aug. 2022
Unfortunately, an impulse to abase oneself isn’t resolved by a recognition that human life is a collaboration.
—Caleb Crain, The Atlantic, 10 Aug. 2021
One by one, internees abase themselves before 60 of their fellow prisoners, repenting of their errors in thinking and their nonprogressive religious practices.
—James E. Person Jr., National Review, 17 Sep. 2020
By the end of the weekend, the entire NBA was in damage-control mode, profusely and absurdly abasing themselves.
—Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 7 Oct. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abase
Verb
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Keeping your phone fully charged or fully discharging the battery will degrade it slightly faster, and regularly swinging between full and empty will shorten its life.—
Julian Chokkattu,
WIRED,
19 Jan. 2025
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Moreover, Trump’s penchant for degrading the reputation of those around him will likely frustrate efforts by Vance to re-elevate his office.—
Roy Brownell,
Baltimore Sun,
18 Jan. 2025
Verb
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My neighbor invited me to dinner, then humiliated me in front of the other women Miss Manners: Strangers keep telling me distressing stories.—
Judith Martin,
The Mercury News,
14 Jan. 2025
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The Ravens, particularly bruising runner Derrick Henry, humiliated the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday night.—
Tim Graham,
The Athletic,
13 Jan. 2025
Verb
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The sense of disharmony is immediate: a familiar scene of youth and learning is grimly debased into one of peril.—
Kyle Chayka,
The New Yorker,
19 Jan. 2025
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Mubarak and his successors may have debased Egypt’s power and influence, but Egyptian words still carry weight in the region.—
Steven A. Cook,
Foreign Affairs,
17 Oct. 2016
Verb
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Beyond her work as a lobbyist, Bondi solidified her reputation as a Trump loyalist by defending him on the floor of the Senate during his first impeachment and helping his efforts to discredit the 2020 election results.—
Peter Charalambous,
ABC News,
15 Jan. 2025
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The AfD has strongly rejected the designation, portraying it as a political attempt to discredit the party.—
Vanessa Gera,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Jan. 2025
Verb
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With rising conflicts and weakened diplomacy, the global order is set to fragment in 2025, intensifying economic volatility.—
Sarwant Singh,
Forbes,
22 Jan. 2025
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Beijing has also been working to repair ties with American allies like Japan to try to weaken the security alliances forged by the Biden administration to constrain China.—
David Pierson,
New York Times,
22 Jan. 2025
Verb
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In 2015, the Tribune reported on a broader phenomenon of lead poisoning plaguing children living in some of the poorest Chicago neighborhoods.—
Lizzie Kane,
Chicago Tribune,
16 Jan. 2025
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These operations are often controlled by cartels and poison the surrounding natural environment with toxic chemicals.—
Yaakov Katz,
Newsweek,
16 Jan. 2025
Verb
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The woman attempted to laugh it off, but her partner continued to demean her.—
George Monastiriakos,
Newsweek,
30 Dec. 2024
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It’s come to signify the experience of being belittled or demeaned by one's parents, in some cases even physically abused.—
Leslie Katz,
Forbes,
21 Nov. 2024
Verb
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The media, the intelligence community, the military, law enforcement — by this screen legend’s usual estimation, these are potentially noble, valuable institutions corrupted from within.—
A.A. Dowd,
Vulture,
13 Jan. 2025
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The two companies are suing the federal government, contending that politics corrupted its review process.—
Santul Nerkar,
New York Times,
9 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near abase
Cite this Entry
“Abase.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abase. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.
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