as in corrupts
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
the belief that pornography depraves society as a whole
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for depraves
Verb
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His relationship with his Jewish neighbors, the Brodskys, grows closer as Nazi power corrupts France.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Feb. 2026 -
As Jay Jonah Atterbury, one of a handful of new characters on the fourth season of Industry, Kal Penn weaponizes and corrupts the stoner quirks viewers may recognize from his years playing Kumar Patel in the Harold & Kumar films.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
12 Jan. 2026
Verb
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That process extends shelf life but also degrades the live enzymes and micronutrients that make fresh juice worth drinking in the first place.—
Avery Newmark,
AJC.com,
6 Apr. 2026
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Most retinol products are restricted to nighttime use because the ingredient degrades in sunlight, so this flexibility is a genuine differentiator.—
Lauren Jarvis-Gibson,
Miami Herald,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Similar to airline tickets or ride-sharing fares, prices may rise when demand exceeds available seats and fall when demand weakens.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
2 Apr. 2026
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This shift ignores local differences and weakens a decentralized model that has allowed rules to be tailored to the realities of each state.—
Cláudia Nunes,
The Orlando Sentinel,
2 Apr. 2026
Verb
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And as our credit deteriorates, borrowing gets more expensive, forcing us to borrow more to keep up, which worsens our credit further.—
Bill Conway,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Mar. 2026
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When hospitals operate under extreme and unpredictable demand spikes, patient safety deteriorates.—
Eugene Litvak,
STAT,
27 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Sensing Scarlet’s resolve to destroy him, Claudius poisons her.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Later that season, Eric humiliates Bill in front of their Pierpoint colleagues by insulting his work quality and Bill dies from brain cancer.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2026
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Thecla humiliates him by ripping his robe and tearing the wreath off his head.—
Christy Cobb,
The Conversation,
16 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The story begins on a train, somewhat subverts the typical strangers-on-a-train narrative in which a chance encounter leads to a love story (that is, the Linklater version rather than the Hitchcock one).—
Deborah Treisman,
New Yorker,
29 Mar. 2026
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The play subverts itself, never allowing an audience to gain a commanding foothill, even at the end when (suffice it to say) the watchers become the watched.—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Mar. 2026
Verb
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In a new Instagram post shared on Tuesday, the composer behind the HBO show’s memorable soundtrack described an industry that debases its own art and the people who make it for the sake of consumerism.—
Charisma Madarang,
Rolling Stone,
17 Mar. 2026
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Freddy Krueger debases the suburban American ideal through the dreams of teenagers in Nightmare on Elm Street.—
Rachel Raposas,
PEOPLE,
29 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Depraves.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/depraves. Accessed 7 Apr. 2026.
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