▪ I. degraded, ppl. a.
(dɪˈgreɪdɪd)
[f. degrade v.1 + -ed1.]
1. Lowered in rank, position, reputation, character, etc.; debased.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 94 Degradid, degradatus. 1614 Sylvester Bethulia's Rescue v. 499 By long Swathes of their degraded Grasse, Well show the way their sweeping Scithes did pass. 1643 Milton Divorce ii. xv. (1851) 101 The restoring of this degraded law. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 235 The degraded emperor of the Romans. 1858 Max Müller Chips (1880) I. ii. 60 There is, perhaps, no race of men so low and degraded. 1885 Catholic Dict. 253/2 The consecration of the Eucharist by a degraded priest is..valid. |
2. a. Biol. Showing structural or functional degradation.
| 1862 Darwin Fertil. Orchids vi. 271 The pollen grains..in all other genera, excepting the degraded Cephalanthera. 1883 H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spir. W. iii. (1884) 101 Degeneration..by which the organism..becomes more and more adapted to a degraded form of life. |
b. Physics. Of energy: Changed into a form less capable of transformation.
| 1876 Tait Rec. Adv. Phys. Sc. vi. 146 Degraded energy meaning energy less capable of being transformed than before. |
c. Soil Science. Of soil; (cf. degradation1 4 e).
| 1927 C. F. Marbut tr. Glinka's Great Soil Groups 95 The well known degraded Tschernosem found in many parts of European and Asiatic Russia. 1965 B. T. Bunting Geogr. Soil xv. 173 The westernmost area of modal chernozem is south of Wroclaw, but degraded chernozem occur as far west as Braunschweig. |
3. Geol. Having suffered degradation, worn down.
| 1869 Phillips Vesuv. viii. 229 Old broken and degraded crateriform ridges. |
4. Of colour: Reduced in brilliancy, toned down.
| 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile i. 9 The outer robe, or gibbeh, is generally of some beautiful degraded colour, such as maize, mulberry, olive, peach. |
Hence deˈgradedly adv.; deˈgradedness.
| 1791 Paine Rights of Man i. (ed. 2) 38 A vast mass of mankind are degradedly thrown into the back-ground. 1824 Landor Imag. Conv. Wks. (1846) I. 185/2 A government more systematically and more degradedly tyrannical. 1883 Pall Mall G. 19 Dec. 2/2 He sees..the misery and degradedness of the poor, the callousness of many rich. |
▪ II. deˈgraded, a. Her.
[f. de- I + L. grad-us step + -ed.]
Of a cross: Set on steps, or having step-like extensions at the ends connecting it with the sides of the shield.
| 1562 Leigh Armorie (1597) 35 Hee beareth Geules, a Crosse nowye degraded fitche Argent. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., A Cross degraded is a cross marked, or divided into steps at each end, diminishing as they ascend towards the middle, or centre; by the French called perronnée. 1882 Cussans Handbk. Her. 64 A Cross set on Steps (usually three) is Degraded, or On Degrees. |