degraded

comparative more degraded · superlative most degraded

1. Feeling or having undergone degradation; deprived of dignity or self-respect.

   The Netherlands […] were reduced, practically, to a very degraded condition.

   1856, John Lothrop Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic. A History. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: humiliated

2. biologyHaving the typical characters or organs in a partially developed condition, or lacking certain parts.

   The Grapsoid species are represented of a degraded form in Porcellana

   1852, James Dwight Dana, Crustacaea

3. not comparablegovernmentHaving steps; said of a cross whose extremities end in steps growing larger as they leave the centre; on degrees.

   A Cross degraded Fitchee.

   1725, A New Dictionary of Heraldry ... Illustrated with 196 devices on copper ... Revis'd and corrected, with a letter to the publisher, by Mr. James Coates, page 98

   2 more examples

   Ar. a cross, degraded, sa.

   1828, William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry, page 168

   Argent, a cross degraded and conjoined, (or issuing from eight degrees,) sable. WYNT-WORTH.

   1847, Henry Gough, A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry: With a Chronological Table, Illustrative of Its Rise and Progress, page 99

4. Having a loss of capability or function. Having undergone deterioration, degradation.

   Synonyms: degd

1. participlepastsimple past and past participle of degrade