Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Debase

Debase , transitive verb

[Prefix de- + base. See Base, a., and compare Abase.]

To reduce from a higher to a lower state or grade of worth, dignity, purity, station, etc.; to degrade; to lower; to deteriorate; to abase; as, to debase the character by crime; to debase the mind by frivolity; to debase style by vulgar words.
The coin which was adulterated and debased. — Hale
It is a kind of taking God's name in vain to debase religion with such frivolous disputes. — Hooker
And to debase the sons, exalts the sires. — Pope