Crossword clues for abase
abase
- Oddly ignored Zambian seen as lower in rank
- Lower a foot
- Belittle, degrade
- A foundation that's humble
- Cut down to size
- Bring shame to
- Lower in value
- Lower in prestige
- Make humble
- Insult badly, e.g
- Opposite of glorify
- Completely humiliate
- Talk down
- Opposite of exalt
- Lower in reputation
- Knock down some
- Cause to eat humble pie
- Take down verbally
- Subject to shame
- Put down nastily
- Opposite of "ennoble"
- Make less of
- Make feel small
- Knock down to size
- Cause to feel shame
- Bring low
- Be an online troll
- "If life has ___ that it stands upon . . ." (Woolf)
- Humiliate
- Deflate
- Humble (oneself)
- Belittle or bully
- Lower in rank
- Demean
- Lower in public estimation
- Put down, in a way
- Knock down a peg
- Take down a peg or two
- Bring down a notch
- Degrade
- Treat like dirt
- In lower rank
- Put to shame
- Knock down a notch
- Take down a notch
- Cast down
- Dishonor
- Mortify
- Strip of stripes
- Defame
- Shame
- Lower in esteem
- Reduce in rank
- Lower in status
- Demote or humble
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Abase \A*base"\ ([.a]*b[=a]s"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Abased ([.a]*b[=a]st"); p. pr. & vb. n. Abasing.] [F. abaisser, LL. abassare, abbassare; ad + bassare, fr. bassus low. See Base, a.]
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To lower or depress; to throw or cast down; as, to abase the eye. [Archaic]
--Bacon.Saying so, he abased his lance.
--Shelton. -
To cast down or reduce low or lower, as in rank, office, condition in life, or estimation of worthiness; to depress; to humble; to degrade.
Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased.
--Luke xiv. ll.Syn: To Abase, Debase, Degrade. These words agree in the idea of bringing down from a higher to a lower state. Abase has reference to a bringing down in condition or feelings; as, to abase the proud, to abase one's self before God. Debase has reference to the bringing down of a thing in purity, or making it base. It is, therefore, always used in a bad sense, as, to debase the coin of the kingdom, to debase the mind by vicious indulgence, to debase one's style by coarse or vulgar expressions. Degrade has reference to a bringing down from some higher grade or from some standard. Thus, a priest is degraded from the clerical office. When used in a moral sense, it denotes a bringing down in character and just estimation; as, degraded by intemperance, a degrading employment, etc. ``Art is degraded when it is regarded only as a trade.''
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 14c., abaishen, from Old French abaissier "diminish, make lower in value or status" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *ad bassiare "bring lower," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + Late Latin bassus "thick, fat, low" (see base (adj.)). Form in English altered 16c. by influence of base (adj.), thus the word is an exception from the rule that Old French verbs with stem -iss- enter English as -ish. Related: Abased; abasing.
Wiktionary
vb. 1 (context transitive archaic English) To lower physically or depress; to stoop; to throw or cast down; as, to ''abase'' the eye. (First attested from around (1350 to 1470)) 2 (context transitive English) To lower, as in rank, office, condition in life, so as to hurt feelings or cause pain; to depress; to humiliate; to humble; to degrade. (First attested from around (1350 to 1470)) 3 (context transitive obsolete English) To lower in value, in particular as altering the content of alloys in coins.(Attested from the mid 16th century until the mid 18th century.)
WordNet
Usage examples of "abase".
From their infancy, when I had to abase myself by serving as their nutrix, they have been repellent to me.
The Sheik of the Pyramids and his sons who had instructed her, the art and craft of whose family it had been for generations to scale these stone mountains for praise and reward on days of festival, were astonished and abased to see themselves equalled or outpassed in their peculiar business by a mere maiden.
Then that family abased themselves before her and, gathering together, prayed her to accept the captaincy and leadership of them all, since she had outpassed them all.
I made up my mind to await the assault that I saw was impending, and then by refusing all her advances I reckoned on abasing her to the uttermost.
No wonder prophets had responded to theophanies by abasing their bodies and wailing over their sins.
His letter was as follows: I have received your letter, my dear Minister: it forcibly conveys the expression of your right feeling, which revolts against oppression, severity, and the abase of power.
This servant, O Lord, though helpless turneth to the Orb of Thy Power, though abased hasteneth unto the Dayspring of Glory, though needy craveth the Ocean of Thy Grace.
It was still open to me to appeal, by attending the next week, and Lorenz urged it, but I would not thus abase myself.
That as Louisianians, as Southerners, as Americans, we proudly claim our share in the fame of Lee as an inheritance rightfully belonging to us, and endowed with which we shall piously cherish, though all calamities should rain upon us, true poverty--the poverty indeed that abases and starves the spirit can never approach us with its noisome breath and withering look.
It was, moreover, resolved by the famous town of Mansoul, that a public fast, and a day of humiliation, should be kept throughout the whole corporation, to the justifying of their Prince, the abasing of themselves before him for their transgressions against him, and against Shaddai, his Father.
I own that I love that sight: 'tis a pleasure to the littleness of human nature to see great things abased by mimicry.
Khipil abased himself before Shahpesh, and answered, ''Tis even here, O King of the age, where thou delightest the earth with thy foot and the ear of thy slave with sweetness.
And he cried, 'O King of the age, the barber is abased, trodden underfoot, given over to the sneers and the gibes of them that flatter the powerful ones.
Was ever man more tired than he before entering Aklis, he that was in turns abased and beloved and exalted!
Probably we have not abased ourselves for the honour that has befallen us in Shagpat, and the distinction among nations and tribes and races, and creeds and sects, that we enjoy because of Shagpat.