Abased


(of a charge) lower on an escutcheon than is usual:
a bend abased.
to reduce or lower, as in rank, office, reputation, or estimation; humble; degrade.
Archaic. to lower; put or bring down:
He abased his head.
Historical Examples

They creep round with huge burdens of stone bowing them down to the very dust and so abased their hearts are turned to humility.
Dante: “The Central Man of All the World” John T. Slattery

She had pled with him before, and knelt and wept and abased herself before him.
In Kings’ Byways Stanley J. Weyman

She must live and die with this secret self-knowledge which abased her, gnawing at the heart.
The Butterfly House Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

His moral force was abased into more than childish weakness.
The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne

Seeing him abased and insulted, all her early tenderness revived.
Trevethlan (Vol 3 of 3) William Davy Watson

The Reformation had been exalted and the Papacy was to be abased.
History of the Great Reformation, Volume IV J. H. Merle D’Aubign

Celia Jane did not feel entirely forgiven because Jerry seemed to avoid her and she abased herself before him.
The Circus Comes to Town Lebbeus Mitchell

Is it not the order of Providence, that the lofty should be abased, and the humble exalted?
The Visions of Quevedo Dom Francisco de Quevedo

And impulsively she abased herself, kneeling at his feet as at the great double altar of some dark new faith.
Zuleika Dobson Max Beerbohm

“O, spare me from that,” pleaded the abased supplicant, with redoubled earnestness.
The Rangers D. P. Thompson

verb (transitive)
to humble or belittle (oneself, etc)
to lower or reduce, as in rank or estimation
v.

late 14c., abaishen, from Old French abaissier “diminish, make lower in value or status” (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *ad bassiare “bring lower,” from Late Latin bassus “thick, fat, low;” from the same source as base (adj.) and altered 16c. in English by influence of it, which made it an exception to the rule that Old French verbs with stem -iss- enter English as -ish. Related: Abased; abasing.

Read Also:

  • Abaser

    to reduce or lower, as in rank, office, reputation, or estimation; humble; degrade. Archaic. to lower; put or bring down: He abased his head. verb (transitive) to humble or belittle (oneself, etc) to lower or reduce, as in rank or estimation v. late 14c., abaishen, from Old French abaissier “diminish, make lower in value or […]

  • Abashed

    ashamed or embarrassed; disconcerted: My clumsiness left me abashed. to destroy the self-confidence, poise, or self-possession of; disconcert; make ashamed or embarrassed: to abash someone by sneering. Contemporary Examples When she came to power in 1978, Britain was a dreary, dreary place: dingy, funereal, abashed, scruffy, feckless. How Margaret Thatcher Transformed British Politics Tunku Varadarajan […]

  • Abash

    to destroy the self-confidence, poise, or self-possession of; disconcert; make ashamed or embarrassed: to abash someone by sneering. Historical Examples Her reticence in that respect, however, did not in the least abash Jesse. The Eddy Clarence L. Cullen It would have been useless; nothing could alter or abash her inherent unmorality. Olive in Italy Moray […]

  • Abashment

    to destroy the self-confidence, poise, or self-possession of; disconcert; make ashamed or embarrassed: to abash someone by sneering. Historical Examples He will tell you with pride rather than with abashment that he is an empleado—a State dependent. The Philippine Islands John Foreman Crimsoning, Alrek fell from his hill of scorn to the valley of abashment. […]

  • Abasia

    inability to walk due to a limitation or absence of muscular coordination. abasia a·ba·sia (ə-bā’zhə) n. Inability to walk due to impaired muscular coordination. a·ba’sic (ə-bā’sĭk, -zĭk) or a·bat’ic (ə-bāt’ĭk) adj.


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