Downgraded

How to spell downgraded

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce downgraded

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does downgraded mean?

1. verbReduced something to a lower rank, level, or standard.

Downgraded in a sentence

• The airline downgraded his ticket to economy after the flight was overbooked.

• The agency downgraded the country's credit rating last month.

Where does downgraded come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past tense of the verb 'downgrade', a relatively modern compound formed in English in the early twentieth century. The second element, 'grade', came from the Latin gradus, which literally meant 'a step' or 'a pace' and then more figuratively 'a degree' or 'rank'; the same Latin root sits inside 'gradual', 'graduate', and 'progress'. The first element, 'down', is a native Old English word descended from the older 'ofdune', meaning 'off the hill' or 'downward'. Joined together, 'downgrade' originally described a downward slope, especially on a railway line, before it shifted to its now-dominant figurative sense of lowering something in rank, status, or quality. The spelling trap is mostly the silent reminder that 'grade' keeps its 'e' before the '-ed', giving the smooth single 'd' sound rather than a doubled letter.

How the word is built

• down (lower)
• grade (from Latin gradus: step, degree)
• -ed (past tense suffix)