abase
- 01 C2 Proficiency
to act in a way that makes you feel less important or lose respect.
to lower in rank, prestige, or estimation; frequently used reflexively to describe self-humiliation or extreme submissiveness.
Simple“He refused to abase himself by begging for his old job back.”
In context“The defeated minister was forced to abase himself before the committee, offering a public apology that many viewed as a final act of political desperation.”
- 02 C2 Proficiency
to move something lower or to look down.
to lower physically or to cast down, such as lowering one's eyes or head in shame or respect.
Simple“She abased her eyes as the king walked past her in the hall.”
In context“In the presence of such overwhelming majesty, the pilgrims abased their heads to the dusty floor, not daring to look upon the altar.”
The verb is transitive and is frequently used reflexively ('to abase oneself').
From Late Middle English abaishen, abashen, abaisse, abassen, abesse, abessen (“to be upset; to embarrass; to surprise; to confound; to bend down, stoop; to abase, degrade, disgrace”), from Middle French abaisser, from Old French abaissier, abessier (“to prostrate oneself; to lower, reduce”) (also compare Old French esbahir (“to amaze”), Vulgar Latin abbassiāre (“to lower”)), from a- (prefix indicating movement towards something) (from Latin ad (“toward, to”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₂éd (“at, to”)) + baissier (“to lower”) (from Medieval Latin bassus (“short of stature, low; base”), possibly from Ancient Greek βᾰ́σῐς (bắsĭs, “foot; base, foundation”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gʷem- (“to step”)). The spelling of the English word has been influenced by base, thus ostensibly analyzable as a- (“towards”) + base. There exist verb cognates in galloromance languages such as Catalan abaixar (“lower; abase”) and Occitan abaissar, and similar word construction in other romance languages as Spanish abajo (“down, downstairs; below”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.