ENGLISH
REFERENCE

abasing

v.
C2 Proficiency abas·ing

v. to behave in a way that makes you or someone else seem less important or less worthy of respect. It often describes someone acting very humble or shameful to please others.

v. to lower in rank, prestige, or esteem; to humble or degrade oneself or another. Transitive in nature, though frequently used reflexively to describe self-humiliation.


SIMPLE

He was tired of abasing himself just to keep his job.

CONTEXTUAL

The prisoner was forced into abasing himself before the guards to receive his daily rations.

COMPLEX

In many historical court rituals, subjects were expected to perform elaborate gestures of abasing themselves to demonstrate total submission to the monarch's absolute authority.

Synonyms
Usage

The verb is transitive and frequently takes a reflexive pronoun (e.g., 'abasing himself').

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