noun
- the act of degrading.
- the state of being degraded.
- Physical Geography. the wearing down of the land by the erosive action of water, wind, or ice.
- Chemistry. the breakdown of an organic compound.
noun
- the act of degrading or the state of being degraded
- a state of degeneration, squalor, or poverty
- some act, constraint, etc, that is degrading
- the wearing down of the surface of rocks, cliffs, etc, by erosion, weathering, or some other process
- chem a breakdown of a molecule into atoms or smaller molecules
- physics an irreversible process in which the energy available to do work is decreased
- RC Church the permanent unfrocking of a priest
1530s, from French dégradation (14c., Old French degradacion), from Medieval Latin degradationem (nominative degradatio), noun of action from past participle stem of degradare (see degrade).
n.
- Progressive decomposition of a chemical compound into a less complex compound.