as in to corrupt
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
the belief that pornography depraves society as a whole
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of deprave
Trump's No Kings video was truly depraved.
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Bill Goodykoontz, AZCentral.com, 20 Oct. 2025
DiCaprio has played disturbed and depraved individuals in Scorsese’s films before, but Killers of the Flower Moon is something different.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 26 Sep. 2025
The company goes on to say the infringing product depraves Levi’s its rights to use and control its trademark and maintain its reputation with consumers, licensees and collaborators and allows others to believe the distinctive features of the Tab trademark may be misappropriated for their use.
—Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 3 Jan. 2025
They are depraved on account of being deprived.
—Matthew Continetti, National Review, 14 Dec. 2024
All writings, unpalatable for one section of the society, cannot be labeled as obscene, vulgar, depraving, prurient and immoral. . . .
—Amitava Kumar, The New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2019
This is especially true when the news operation is clearly on the side of righteousness against a policy as depraved this.
—David Zurawik, baltimoresun.com, 15 June 2018
This series follows the trails of their obsession, and takes a deep dive into the killers’ depraved psyches to reveal their darkest secrets as investigators close in to end the killer’s reign of terror.
—Michael O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Apr. 2018
McDonagh complicates Mildred's story by showing how the lust for justice can grow depraved the longer it is denied — a favorite subject of dramatists going back to Aeschylus.
—Charles McNulty, latimes.com, 1 Mar. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deprave
Verb
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As Jay Jonah Atterbury, one of a handful of new characters on the fourth season of Industry, Kal Penn weaponizes and corrupts the stoner quirks viewers may recognize from his years playing Kumar Patel in the Harold & Kumar films.—
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His mind is warped, his sense of morality corrupted.—
Verb
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This structure can diffract light and degrade image quality.—
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At 40, he was tasked with restoring order to a dysfunctional Philadelphia Eagles team whose culture degraded during a chaotic 2020 season.—
Verb
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Evergreen branches bent under the weight of snow are already weakened; sweeping down the length of the branch toward the ground adds to the stress and increases the potential for breakage.—
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These policies impose devastating costs on American citizens, weakening our economy, increasing the national debt, straining public budgets and tearing families apart.—
Verb
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The dark comedy follows a wealthy socialite, Stacy (Cherry), and a struggling writer, Becky (Chalotra), who are brought together at a lavish, debauched New York party.—
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The atmosphere, at once debauched and sombre, felt like a wake, one attendee said.—
Verb
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Murry corrupted and perverted and destroyed Katherine both as a person and a writer […] Her gifts were those of an intense realist, with a superb sense of ironic humour and fundamental cynicism.—
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This week’s dismissal of the ludicrous federal indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James were signs that justice still prevails, despite Trump’s constant attempts to pervert it.—
Verb
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And her co-stars—Jacob Elordi as a brooding Heathcliff, Alison Oliver as an angelic Isabella Linton, Hong Chau as a steely Nelly Dean, and Shazad Latif as a swaggering Edgar Linton—would also be subverting our expectations.—
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By delegitimizing the Islamic Republic as an occupying force—one that plunders national wealth to subsidize regional proxies—the opposition has effectively subverted the regime’s nationalist rhetoric.—
Verb
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And videotaping it to humiliate them.—
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She had never been arrested before and felt humiliated when her mugshot was plastered all over the news after her arrest.—
Verb
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For part of the trial of El Chapo, the city shut down the Brooklyn Bridge; his lawyers tried to move the proceedings to Philadelphia, because the jury pool was poisoned by angry commuters.—
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Alice is paranoid, thinking her roommate is rearranging her shower supplies and that someone might be poisoning her food.—
Cite this Entry
“Deprave.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deprave. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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