downgrade

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   A reduction of a rating, as a financial or credit rating.

2. 2

   A downhill gradient on a road or railway.

   • [...] dynamic braking is fitted to the 99-ton, 55 ft.-long locomotives to help control these otherwise vacuum-braked trains on the long, continuous downgrades encountered on the coastal route.
3. 3

   A reduction in quality

   A reduction in quality; a descent towards an inferior state.

   • Near-synonyms: degradation, worsening, deterioration
4. ›+ 5 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To place lower in position.

      • The stock was downgraded from ‘buy’ to ‘sell’.
   2. 5

      To reduce in complexity, or remove unnecessary parts

      To reduce in complexity, or remove unnecessary parts; to dumb down.

   3. 6

      To disparage.

      • We cannot afford to downgrade the lifestyles of other lesbians; we cannot afford to portray lesbians thinly as drunken and bothersome separatists who push their views on "work-within-the-movement" dykes".
      • Without downgrading my friends in the Building Trades, driving a nail or sawing a board is relatively simple.
   4. 7

      to reduce the official estimate of a storm's intensity.

   5. 8

      To revert software back to an older version.

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