degraded

Etymology

See degrade and compare French degré (“step”).

adj

1. Feeling or having undergone degradation; deprived of dignity or self-respect.
2. (biology) Having the typical characters or organs in a partially developed condition, or lacking certain parts.
   The Grapsoid species are represented of a degraded form in Porcellana 1852, James Dwight Dana, Crustacaea
3. (heraldry, not comparable) Having steps; said of a cross whose extremities end in steps growing larger as they leave the centre; on degrees.
   A Cross degraded Fitchee. 1725, A New Dictionary of Heraldry ... Illustrated with 196 devices on copper ... Revis'd and corrected, with a letter to the publisher, by Mr. James Coates, page 98
   Ar. a cross, degraded, sa. 1828, William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry, page 168
   Argent, a cross degraded and conjoined, (or issuing from eight degrees,) sable. WYNT-WORTH. 1847, Henry Gough, A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry: With a Chronological Table, Illustrative of Its Rise and Progress, page 99

verb

1. simple past and past participle of degrade