debasement

debase +‎ -ment

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈbeɪsmənt/
• Rhymes: -eɪsmənt

debasement (countable and uncountable, plural debasements)

1. The act of debasing or the state of being debased; a lowering or degradation, especially in character or quality.
   • 1832, Edgar Allan Poe, "Bon Bon":

     His large water-dog was acquainted with the fact, and upon the approach of his master, betrayed his sense of inferiority by a sanctity of deportment, a debasement of the ears, and a dropping of the lower jaw not altogether unworthy of a dog.

   • 1912, Edith Wharton, chapter 33, in The Reef:

     She had given herself to Darrow, and concealed the episode from Owen Leath, with no more apparent sense of debasement than the vulgarest of adventuresses.

   • 2009, Gilbert Cruz, "The Many Faces of Addiction (Book review of America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life by Benoit Denizet-Lewis)," Time, 12 Jan.:

     There's something ugly and fascinating about reading such intimate tales of debasement and depression and failure and self-doubt.

2. The lowering of the value of a currency by reducing the amount of valuable metal in the coins.