dedecorate means to bring to shame; to disgrace. It carries an Arena rating of 1461, earned across 95 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, dedecorate ranks #1,023 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #5,375 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #5,826 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #6,660 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
Why “dedecorate” is a great word
DEDECORATE — [Verb] To strip of honor and adornment; to bring into disgrace. From Latin dedecoratus, past participle of dedecorare ("to disgrace"), from de- ("down from, away") + decorare ("to adorn, honor") from decus ("honor, ornament"). First attested in English c. 1609. Unlike "defame," which attacks with words, or "disfigure," which mars the body, to dedecorate is to un-adorn the soul—the public revocation of a medal, the chiseling of a name from a plaque, the chill of averted eyes in a once-friendly hall. It is the solemn societal act of dismantling a life's ornamentation, leaving only the bare scaffold of disgrace.
Etymology
From Latin dedecoratus, past participle of dedecorare (“to disgrace”).
verb
- To bring to shame; to disgrace.e.g.“dedecorate that illustrious profession I am called to, in hopes to save my self by a speedy discession” — 1665, George Thomson, Loimologia:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.