DEGRADING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does degrading mean? 

• DEGRADING (adjective)
  The adjective DEGRADING has 2 senses:

1. harmful to the mind or morals

2. used of conduct; characterized by dishonor

  Familiarity information: DEGRADING used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEGRADING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Harmful to the mind or morals

Synonyms:

corrupting; degrading

Context example:

the vicious and degrading cult of violence

Similar:

noxious (injurious to physical or mental health)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Used of conduct; characterized by dishonor

Synonyms:

debasing; degrading

Similar:

dishonorable; dishonourable (lacking honor or integrity; deserving dishonor)

 Context examples 

If I had seen an Ape taking command of a Man, I should hardly have thought it a more degrading spectacle.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Bertha Mason, the true daughter of an infamous mother, dragged me through all the hideous and degrading agonies which must attend a man bound to a wife at once intemperate and unchaste.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Carfilzomib irreversibly binds to and inhibits the chymotrypsin-like activity of the 20S catalytic core subunit of the proteasome, a protease complex responsible for degrading a large variety of cellular proteins.

(Carfilzomib, NCI Thesaurus)

But it's these very uses that are degrading the ecological, socioeconomic and scientific value of many ancient lakes.

(Ancient lakes: eyes into the past, and the future, National Science Foundation)

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a class of proteases secreted by tumor cells, degrading the proteins of the extracellular matrix and allowing metastasis.

(Inhibition of Matrix Metalloproteinases Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

This allele, which encodes insulin-degrading enzyme protein, plays a role in the degradation of insulin and other bioactive peptides.

(IDE wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

If it would be good to her, I am sure it would be evil to himself; a very shameful and degrading connexion.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Insulin-degrading enzyme (1019 aa, ~118 kDa) is encoded by the human IDE gene.

(Insulin-Degrading Enzyme, NCI Thesaurus)

An agent consisting of the arginine-degrading enzyme arginine deiminase combined with polyethylene glycol (20,000 MW) (ADI-PEG 20) with potential antineoplastic activity.

(Pegylated arginine deiminase, NCI Thesaurus)

Degrading mRNAs from both ends, NMD involves decapping, deadenylating, and exonucleolytic activities.

(Nonsense-Mediated Decay, NCI Thesaurus)