Meaning

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

Definitions by Sense

1. A reduction of a rating, as a financial or credit rating.
2. A downhill gradient on a road or railway.
3. A reduction in quality; a descent towards an inferior state.
4. To place lower in position.
5. To reduce in complexity, or remove unnecessary parts; to dumb down.
6. (transitive) To disparage.
7. (meteorology) to reduce the official estimate of a storm's intensity.
8. (computing) To revert software back to an older version.

Example Sentences

[...] 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.

Near-synonyms: degradation, worsening, deterioration

The stock was downgraded from ‘buy’ to ‘sell’.

Basingstoke-Exeter will test this. From Salisbury westwards, it's largely single-track since British Rail downgraded it in 1967. There's a ten-mile loop between Templecombe and Yeovil, as well as shorter loops at Chard, Axminster and Honiton.

More significantly, rigid deference to [Justin] Bieber’s still-young core fan base keeps things resolutely PG, with any acknowledgement of sex either couched in vague “touch your body” workarounds or downgraded to desirous hand-holding and eye-gazing.

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.

Word Forms

• downgrades
• downgrading
• downgraded

Synonyms for downgrade

Antonyms for downgrade

Related Words

When Should You Use Downgrade?

Use downgrade when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

Practice This Word

Frequently Asked Questions