ABASE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Abase

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verb

Abase v. t. (past & past part. abased; pres. part. abasing)

To lower or depress; to throw or cast down; as, to abase the eye. (Archaic) "Saying so, he abased his lance."

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."

Synonyms: 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."

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Etymology of 'Abase'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Abase" Quotes from Famous Books

... "imbase" is frequently found in the sense of "abase." Here the meaning seems to be "weakened, enfeebled." (Ovid's words are ...

— The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3) • Christopher Marlowe

... Lord who am but dust and ashes. If I count myself more, behold Thou standest against me, and my iniquities bear true testimony, and I cannot gainsay it. But if I abase myself, and bring myself to nought, and shrink from all self-esteem, and grind myself to dust, which I am, Thy grace will be favourable unto me, and Thy light will be near unto my heart; and all self-esteem, how little soever it ...

— The Imitation of Christ • Thomas a Kempis

... especially as she was the cause of thy strangerhood and thy separation from me." Then he complained to her of his case, saying, "O my mother, go to her and speak with her; haply she will vouchsafe me her sight to see and dispel from me this despondency." Replied his mother, "Idle desires abase men's necks; so put away from thee this thought that can only vex; for I will not wend to her nor go in to her with such message.' Now when he heard his mother's words he told her what said the horse-thief concerning Zat al-Dawahi, how the old woman was then in their land ...

— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 3 • Richard F. Burton

... old Country! I have watched thee long Still ever first to rise against the wrong; To check the usurper in his giant stride, And brave his terrors and abase his pride; Foresee the insidious danger ere it rise, And warn the heedless and inform the wise; Scorning the lure, the bribe, the selfish game, Which, through the office, still becomes the shame; Thou stood'st aloof—superior to the fate That would have wrecked thy ...

— War Poetry of the South • Various

... satisfied the claims of honour; he had punished Servia for her peevish and unsisterly jealousy. Under his lead the Bulgarians had covered themselves with glory, and had leaped at a bound from political youth to manhood. Why should he risk their new-found unity merely in order to abase Servia? The Prince never acted more prudently than when he decided not to bring into the field the Power which, as he believed, had pushed on Servia ...

— The Development of the European Nations, 1870-1914 (5th ed.) • John Holland Rose

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