English → Latin
“debase” in Latin
minuōto make smaller, lessen, diminish, reduce, minimize; to attenuate, appease, suppress, repress, quell; to dismember, tearimmineōto project, bend or lean toward or over, overhang; to touch on, border upon; to threaten, menacedēdecorōto disgrace, dishonorcorrumpōto pervert, corrupt, deprave or infect; to gain to oneself by gifts, etc.; bribe; to spoil or rotvitiōto vitiate, make faulty, spoil, taint, corrupt, damage; to violate sexually; to falsify, corrupt (tamper with)adulterōto commit adultery (with); to falsify, counterfeit, adulterate; to pollute, corrupt, defileindecōrusunbecoming, unseemly, indecorous; disgraceful, shameful; unsightly
The English word debase itself goes back to Latin bassus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
debase
To lower, minuere; imminuere; one’s self, se deinittere, se submittere; to anything, prolabi ad aliquid; se projicere in aliquid (e.g., to effeminate lamentations, in muliebres fletus); descendere ad aliquid (e.g., ad gravissimas verborum contumelias): one’s rank, minuere suam dignitatem: to debase one’s self to the lowest degree, se abjicere or se abjicere et prosternere: to debase an art by practising it for money or gain, artem ad mercedem atque quaestum abducere: to such an extent did Perillus debase his art, in hoc Perillus artem devocavit.
To disgrace, dedecorare; dedecore afficere: to debase one’s self by anything, se dedecorare aliqua, re (e.g., flagitiis); dedecus concipere aliqua re (e.g., libidinum intemperantia): anything debases me, aliquid mihi est dedecori, or turpitudini.
To adulterate, corrumpere (to spoil): vitiare (e.g., pecunias; merces): adulterare (e.g., numos; gemmas): money thus debased, numus adulterinus (opposed to numus bonus).
Debasing, indecorus.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for debase?
- The usual Latin words for “debase” are minuō, immineō, dēdecorō; also corrumpō, vitiō, adulterō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.