abased

American  

[uh-beyst] / əˈbeɪst /

adjective

1. reduced or lowered, as in status, office, dignity, or estimation; humbled; degraded.

   In the hearings, the abased director of the Children’s Fund finally admitted his errors and meekly promised reforms.

2. Heraldry. (of a charge) lower on an escutcheon than is usual.

   a bend abased.

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noun

(used with a plural verb)

1. Usually the abased people who have been humbled by misfortune, persecution, etc..

   We entrust to God’s mercy the wretched, the desperate, and the abased.

Other Word Forms

• unabased adjective

Etymology

Origin of abased

First recorded in 1645–55; abase + -ed ²

Example Sentences

Much of the classical music industry has since abased itself at Mäkelä’s feet.

From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2023

I hadn’t abased myself, on my knees, scrubbing toilets at the level and in constant sight of my drill instructor’s crotch just to join a club.

From The Guardian • Dec. 18, 2018

He so thoroughly abased himself that he literally ate the excrement of a patrolman’s steed.

From Slate • Feb. 5, 2018

In short, the movie feels, if not exactly glamorous, then simultaneously overly processed and overwrought, even when it’s wallowing in the most abased behavior.

From Washington Post • May 19, 2016

Two years later the Spanish Inquisition was set up in Rome; and its shadow fell even over Venice, which abased itself to the imprisonment of Bruno.

From Science and Medieval Thought The Harveian Oration Delivered Before the Royal College of Physicians, October 18, 1900 by Allbutt, Sir Thomas Clifford

Related Words

• boorish
• depraved
• evil
• nefarious
• rotten