Definition of "downgrade"

downgrade

/ˈdaʊnˌɡɹeɪd/

noun
plural downgrades
1. A reduction of a rating, as a financial or credit rating.
2. A downhill gradient on a road or railway.
  Quotations
  [...] 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.
  1960 April, “English Electric diesels for the Sudan Railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 218
3. A reduction in quality; a descent towards an inferior state.
verb
third-person singular simple present downgrades, present participle downgrading, simple past and past participle downgraded
1. To place lower in position.
2. To reduce in complexity, or remove unnecessary parts; to dumb down.
  Quotations
  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.
  2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 6 August 2020
3. (transitive) To disparage.
  Quotations
  Without downgrading my friends in the Building Trades, driving a nail or sawing a board is relatively simple.
  1981, King Royer, Construction Manager in the 80's, page 278
4. (meteorology) to reduce the official estimate of a storm's intensity.
5. (computing) To revert software back to an older version.

Definition of "downgrade"

downgrade

noun

Quotations

verb

Quotations

Quotations