demotev.
/dᵻˈməʊt/, /ˌdiːˈməʊt/, U.S. /dᵻˈmoʊt/, /ˌdiˈmoʊt/ Originally U.S.
1. transitive. To move (a person) to a lower rank or status, or less senior position, typically as a punishment. Also occasionally intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > accord social rank to [verb (transitive)] > deprive of rank or class
disgentilize1621
disknight1621
dislady1631
discaste1847
outcaste1867
disclass1868
demote1872
1872 Ann. Rep. State Commissioner Common Schools Ohio 221 Each teacher always prepares, on the blanks furnished by the State Commissioner of Common Schools, a full alphabetic list of the pupils that have attended any school, excepting those promoted or demoted from the room.
1886 Catholic World 43 313 He can make or unmake, elevate or demote, at his discretion.
1900 Daily News 26 May 6/7 When absentees returned to school, the masters were unwilling to ‘demote’ them.
1919 Daily Mail 7 Oct. 5/4 Major-General Biddle..is shortly to be ‘demoted’ to brigadier.
1955 Times Lit. Suppl. 11 Nov. 673/1 Montesquieu has been demoted to the position of a rather disagreeable figure of fun.
1976 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 Sept. 1/2 An employee can only be demoted if he is proved to be incompetent or incapable of performing the duties of his position.
2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Sept. 32/3 She had just woundingly demoted [him] from the Foreign Office to the non-job of Deputy Prime Minister.
2. transitive. To reduce the status, level, or importance of (a thing); to downgrade.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > degrading or debasement > degrade [verb (transitive)]
vile1297
supplanta1382
to bring lowa1387
revilea1393
gradea1400
villain1412
abject?a1439
to-gradea1440
vilifyc1450
villainy1483
disparage1496
degradea1500
deject?1521
disgraduate1528
disgress1528
regrade1534
base1538
diminute1575
lessen1579
to turn down1581
to pitch (a person) over the bar?1593
disesteem1594
degender1596
unnoble1598
disrank1599
reduce1599
couch1602
disthrone1603
displume1606
unplume1621
disnoble1622
disworth?1623
villainize1623
unglory1626
ungraduate1633
disennoble1645
vilicate1646
degraduate1649
bemean1651
deplume1651
lower1653
cheapen1654
dethrone1659
diminish1667
scoundrel1701
sink1706
demean1715
abjectate1731
unglorifya1740
unmagnify1747
undignify1768
to take the shine out of (less frequently from, U.S. off)1819
dishero1838
misdemean1843
downgrade1892
demote1919
objectify1973
1919 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 84 86 The Universities of Moscow and Petrograd and similar institutions may have been demoted from their high calling, but they are being definitely related to the most immediate and pressing educational needs of the Russian people.
1927 C. H. Patton & W. T. Field Eight O'Clock Chapel iii. 66 Latin and Greek were demoted from the unique position that they had held for generations in the educational hierarchy.
1937 Life 18 Oct. 44/3 (caption) Meanwhile Graziani has demoted the Coptic Christian Church from its old status as Ethiopia's State Church.
1957 Listener 28 Nov. 881/1 Premises at the Great Central Hotel, Marylebone, now, alas, demoted to railway offices.
1968 N. Brooke Shakespeare's Early Trag. 167 What had previously been thought of as cause was..demoted to symptom.
2010 Llanelli Star (Nexis) 10 Feb. 25 Another tenant..who behaved anti-socially has had his secure tenancy demoted to a 12-month probationary tenancy.
2011 S. Jobs in N.Y. Times (National ed.) 7 June b1/5 We are going to demote the PC to just be a device.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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