The verb "degrade" has multiple meanings: 1. to cause someone to lose respect or feel less respect for themselves; 2. to make a situation or the condition of something worse; 3. (often in a chemical context) to break down or become simpler.
[VERB 动词]使丢脸；有辱…的人格；降低…的身份 Something that degrades someone causes people to have less respect for them.
[V n]
[V pron-refl]
...the notion that pornography degrades women...
认为色情作品有辱女性尊严的观念
When I asked him if he had ever been to a prostitute he said he wouldn't degrade himself like that.
我问他是否找过妓女时，他说他不会自贬身份去干那种事情。
degrading
Mr Porter was subjected to a degrading strip-search.
波特先生被迫接受有辱人格的裸身搜查。
2
[VERB 动词]使恶化；使退化 To degrade something means to cause it to get worse.
[V n]
[FORMAL 正式]
...the ability to meet human needs indefinitely without degrading the environment.
无限制地满足人类需求而不造成环境退化的能力
3
[V-ERG 及物/不及物动词]（使）降解 In science, if a substance degrades or if something degrades it, it changes chemically and decays or separates into different substances.
[V]
[V n]
[TECHNICAL 术语]
This substance degrades rapidly in the soil.
这种物质在土壤里会迅速降解。
...the ability of these enzymes to degrade cellulose.
这些酶降解纤维素的能力
Oxford
de·grade/dɪˈɡreɪd; NAmEdɪˈɡreɪd/verb1[transitive ]degradesb to show or treat sb in a way that makes them seem not worth any respect or not worth taking seriously 降低…身分；侮辱…的人格；使受屈辱◆This poster is offensive and degrades women.这张海报冒失无礼，有辱女性尊严。2[intransitive , transitive ]degrade(sth) ( technical 术语) to change or make sth change to a simpler chemical form （使）退化，降解；分解3[transitive ]degradesth ( technical 术语) to make sth become worse, especially in quality 降低，削弱（尤指质量）degradedegradesdegradeddegradingde·grade/dɪˈɡreɪd; NAmEdɪˈɡreɪd/
LDC
degradede‧grade /dɪˈɡreɪd/ verb
Verb Table
Examples
word sets
Collocations
1[transitive] to treat someone without respect and make them lose respect for themselves: a movie that degrades womendegrade yourself (by doing something) How can you degrade yourself by writing such trash?2[transitive] to make a situation or the condition of something worse: The dolphin’s habitat is being rapidly degraded.3[intransitive, transitive] technical if a substance, chemical etc degrades, or if something degrades it, it changes to a simpler form—degradable adjective
WDF
degrade
[dɪˈgreɪd]degraded, degrading, degrades
CET6TEM8TOEFLIELTS
v8595
2187
369
146
566
281
825
VERB8796
69265
Spoken:
70902620
degraded[862] degrading[1185]
降解(71%)，退化(14%)，贬低(11%)，降格(3%)，使屈辱(1%)
vt.贬低；使……丢脸；使……降级；使……降解
vi.降级，降低；退化
Learn with these flashcards. Click next, previous, or up to navigate to more flashcards for this subject.