as in to degrade
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
the long stay on a tropical isle had debauched the ship's crew to the point where they no longer acted like naval professionals
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Recent Examples of debauch
But as commercialization took hold, the event metastasized into a pit of hard drugs, drunkenness, and debauch a world apart from its bohemian origins.
—
Charlie Campbell, TIME, 17 Mar. 2025
In season two, when Mike White’s series decamped to Sicily, the credits riffed on Italian frescoes that got increasingly debauched — with a beat drop from opera to EDM.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2025
Life is debauched and consistent, until that handsome twentysomething gent wanders into Lee’s favorite watering hole.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Nov. 2024
That doesn’t seem especially forbidden or debauched.
—Chris Klimek, Vulture, 17 July 2024
Instead, Mixtape Pluto is subterranean and nocturnal, hedonistic one minute and aching with regrets the next, debauched but wounded.
—Christopher R. Weingarten, Rolling Stone, 23 Sep. 2024
On the evidence of this savage industry satire, the experience was souring, dehumanizing and debauching.
—Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2024
Snook plays not just the eternally young but damnably debauched Dorian Gray, but every one of the 26 parts in two unbroken hours of ceaselessly kinetic, highly choreographed, tech-heavy action.
—Demetrios Matheou, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
As debauched and dirty as our film is, it’s still done so intentionally and tastefully.
—Marlow Stern, Rolling Stone, 6 July 2023
Charlie Campbell, TIME, 17 Mar. 2025
In season two, when Mike White’s series decamped to Sicily, the credits riffed on Italian frescoes that got increasingly debauched — with a beat drop from opera to EDM.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2025
Life is debauched and consistent, until that handsome twentysomething gent wanders into Lee’s favorite watering hole.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Nov. 2024
That doesn’t seem especially forbidden or debauched.
—Chris Klimek, Vulture, 17 July 2024
Instead, Mixtape Pluto is subterranean and nocturnal, hedonistic one minute and aching with regrets the next, debauched but wounded.
—Christopher R. Weingarten, Rolling Stone, 23 Sep. 2024
On the evidence of this savage industry satire, the experience was souring, dehumanizing and debauching.
—Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2024
Snook plays not just the eternally young but damnably debauched Dorian Gray, but every one of the 26 parts in two unbroken hours of ceaselessly kinetic, highly choreographed, tech-heavy action.
—Demetrios Matheou, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
As debauched and dirty as our film is, it’s still done so intentionally and tastefully.
—Marlow Stern, Rolling Stone, 6 July 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for debauch
Verb
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Thimerosal degrades into ethylmercury, which was judged not to be a danger at the level that would come from a vaccine.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
1 Apr. 2025
-
The quality degrades a bit after the sun goes down.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
29 Mar. 2025
Verb
-
Banks couldn’t simply restore from backups because those records had also been corrupted.—
Jim Dobson,
Forbes.com,
4 Apr. 2025
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Examples include divulging end users’ confidential contacts or emails and delivering falsified answers that have the potential to corrupt the integrity of important calculations.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
28 Mar. 2025
Verb
-
Until Henry momentarily excuses himself from the table, that is, and the person or persons behind these winky-wink messages tell her to poison Henry ASAP or the menacing guy currently hiding in her apartment will kill her boy.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
10 Apr. 2025
-
Calls to poison control centers for pediatric melatonin ingestion increased 530 percent between 2012 and 2021, according to one analysis published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
8 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Only by allowing himself to be debased can this man actually come to understand God.—
Kevin Lincoln,
Vulture,
20 Jan. 2025
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His illuminating backstage account of cable news describes thoughtful journalists debasing themselves in their scramble to retain straying viewers.—
Daniel Immerwahr,
The New Yorker,
20 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Trump World even humiliated Abe by letting it be known that Abe had nominated the U.S. leader for a Nobel Peace Prize.—
William Pesek,
Forbes.com,
29 Mar. 2025
-
The temptation for Russia to humiliate London and Paris - by breaking any ceasefire with an attack carried out hundreds of miles away from British and French troops stuck in the capital - could prove hard to resist.—
Andrew Carey,
CNN Money,
28 Mar. 2025
Verb
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One way that could happen would be for foreign countries to weaken their currency to make the same product cheaper in dollars for tariff purposes, without raising the end cost to the consumer.—
Brendan Coffey,
Sportico.com,
4 Apr. 2025
-
But that progress stalled out around the turn of the year, which weakened the case for further rate cuts and ultimately prompted the Fed to stand pat in January.—
Bryan Mena,
CNN Money,
4 Apr. 2025
Verb
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The only conspiracy is what Bove and Bondi are engaged in, perverting a prosecution for their political gain.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
26 Mar. 2025
-
Yet perverting that good news story into some tawdry political gain cheapens SpaceX, NASA, and Wilmore and Williams.—
Eric Berger,
Ars Technica,
18 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Project 2025 is explicitly derived from the processes used by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to subvert his country’s democracy and by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to subvert the inchoate democratic movement after the fall of the Soviet Union.—
DP Opinion,
Denver Post,
4 Apr. 2025
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With a limited color palette and very spare design, the show subverts the commonplace elements of an office and invents a haunting visual language all its own that creeps you out while drawing you in.—
Charlotte Collins,
Architectural Digest,
20 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Debauch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/debauch. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.
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