abase

/əˈbeɪs/

Etymology

From Late Middle English abaishen, abashen, abaisse, abassen, abesse, abessen (“to be upset; to embarrass; to surprise; to confound; to bend down, stoop; to abase, degrade, disgrace”), from Middle French abaisser, from Old French abaissier, abessier (“to prostrate oneself; to lower, reduce”) (also compare Old French esbahir (“to amaze”), Vulgar Latin abbassiāre (“to lower”)), from a- (prefix indicating movement towards something) (from Latin ad (“toward, to”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“at, to”)) + baissier (“to lower”) (from Medieval Latin bassus (“short of stature, low; base”), possibly from Ancient Greek βᾰ́σῐς (bắsĭs, “foot; base, foundation”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to step”)). The spelling of the English word has been influenced by base, thus os

abase means to lower, as in condition in life, office, rank, etc., so as to cause pain or hurt feelings; to degrade, to depress, to humble, to humiliate. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 79 out of 100.

Why this word is great

ABASE — [Verb] To lower in rank, dignity, or condition, often to humiliate or degrade. From Middle English, from Middle French abaisser, from Old French abaissier, from a- (toward) + baissier (to lower), from Medieval Latin bassus (low, base). Unlike “debase,” which adulterates the value of a coin or principle, or “humiliate,” which is a public shame inflicted by another, to abase is a conscious, inward prostration. It is the courtier’s forced genuflection, the penitent’s deliberate grovel in the dust, or the supplicant’s bared neck awaiting a blade that may never fall—the architecture of power built upon one’s own chosen descent into indignity.

verb

To lower, as in condition in life, office, rank, etc., so as to cause pain or hurt feelings; to degrade, to depress, to humble, to humiliate.“For whoſoeuer exalteth himſelfe ſhalbe abaſed: and hee that humbleth himſelfe, ſhalbe exalted.”
To lower physically; to depress; to cast or throw down; to stoop.“to abase the eye”
To lower in value, in particular by altering the content of alloys in coins; to debase.“Though in the nature thereof, that with which a purer metal is mixed, be not base; yet, it abases the purer metal. […] [T]hough silver be a precious metal, yet it abases gold. Grace, and peace, and faith, are precious parts of our treasure here; yet, if we mingle them, that is, compare them with the joys, and glory of heaven; […] we abase, and over-alloy these joys, and that glory.”