deflate

What it means

1. transitiveTo remove air or some other gas from within an elastic container, e.g. a balloon or tyre.
2. transitiveTo cause an object to decrease or become smaller in some parameter, e.g. to shrink

   Synonyms: collapse

3. transitiveeconomicsTo reduce the amount of available currency or credit and thus lower prices.

In a sentence

deflate someone's ego

Where it comes from

From de- + (in)flate. Coined in 1891, in reference to balloons. Equivalent to Latin dē- (“away, from”) + Latin flō (“blow”) + -ate (verb-forming suffix).